


Unilateral Contract

by Shujinkakusama



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Canon Dialogue, Deviates From Canon, F/F, Fluff, Multi, Slow Burn, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-07-18 02:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 34,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7295482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shujinkakusama/pseuds/Shujinkakusama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pearl catches Jasper before she falls into the fissure--but gets more than she bargained for when Jasper decides to uphold an old Homeworld tradition. Marriage to the enemy is the last thing Pearl is ready for! // Jaspearl, AU, no outline, may include other ships later. Starts during Super Watermelon Island.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Deal

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be a Kyou Kara Maou parody, we'll see what happens!

It was a combination of instinct and luck that Pearl managed to catch Jasper by the hand before she slipped into the fissure. Her heels dug into the ground as the bigger Gem’s weight pulled her forward, and for a split second, Pearl was certain that the both of them would be swallowed up by the Earth itself.

 

Garnet caught her waist at the last second, and Pearl managed to steady herself, tugging the quartz soldier’s body until she could hook an elbow around her massive arm. The alabaster Gem tugged her up to more steady ground, and once futures where Pearl _and_ Jasper were both lost had passed, Garnet released her. Pearl’s free hand found Garnet’s side.

 

The Watermelon Steven their charge was possessing made a distressed noise; Garnet took its face in her hands and spoke to him, voice urgent but firm as ever.

 

“Wake up, get Peridot and start drilling. The Earth needs you, Steven. We'll be fine. You can do this. We believe in you.”

 

It took precious seconds they may not have had, and Pearl and Amethyst joined her. Amethyst grinned. “You got this, dude. You know the drill.”

 

“Be careful, Steven. Watch each other’s backs,” Pearl said, mustering up a smile.

 

“And Steven,” Garnet finished, “We love you.”

 

The Watermelon Steven’s eyes went blank, and it stiffened; the ground lurched harder, and the remaining Watermelon Stevens howled, skittering away from the beach.

 

“Gems,” Garnet said quickly, looking to her two companions, “Get Jasper and Lapis, we’ve got to get these watermelons to safety before we can go back!”

 

Amethyst nodded rigorously, taking the confused Watermelon Steven from Garnet; their leader caught Lapis before the ocean could swallow her up again, and Pearl hefted Jasper’s bulky form over her back with a grunt of effort.

 

Each prayed that Steven and Peridot would be successful in dealing with the Cluster, and privately, Pearl prayed that their captives would be easier to deal with separately once they regained consciousness.

 

If the Earth lasted that long.

 

* * *

 

 

Two days later, Jasper remained asleep, utterly spent. The Crystal Gems had parted ways; Amethyst and Peridot remained at the barn with Steven and Lapis, while Pearl and Garnet had taken the quartz soldier back to the Temple, just in case. They took turns watching her, but it was hardly necessary; Garnet knew when she would wake, and knew that she would be the one ready to deal with her when that time came.

 

Steven had begged that they not poof and bubble her, that they at least give her a chance, and Garnet had agreed. Pearl had been more reluctant, but neither of them could truly deny Steven when he wanted something, and they both knew it.

 

Futures came and went while Jasper slept on the couch; Garnet let Pearl sharpen her old swords, just in case, and when the time was upon them, Garnet asked Pearl to warp to the barn to check on things. Her tone brooked no argument.

 

Pearl hadn’t been gone five minutes when Jasper stirred, disoriented. Garnet had her gauntlets at the ready.

 

“Jasper,” Garnet said icily, earning a grunt from the other Gem as she tried to sit up.

 

“Just great,” the quartz growled, rubbing a hand over her face, feeling her Gem for cracks. The surface was unchanged, and she was privately thankful. It did nothing for her mood. “You Crystal Gems just don’t know when to crawl back in your holes… What is this dump? Your _base_?”

 

Garnet snorted. She wondered how much Jasper remembered of their fight, but found that she didn’t care. “You’re our prisoner,” she said, ignoring the insult. “Steven wanted you free.”

 

“A serious mistake. I expect better from Rose Quartz,” Jasper grumbled, but--strangely--she didn’t move from where she sat, golden eyes searching Garnet’s face for weakness. With the visor firmly in place, she saw none. The bigger Gem scowled. “What do you Gems want from me? You should have shattered or left me behind.”

 

“Pearl saved you,” Garnet said, “She felt it would be a waste to let you die.”

 

From her tone, and the way her lip curled in distaste, Garnet didn’t agree.

 

“The _pearl_?” the word tasted bad on Jasper’s tongue, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “How? _Why_?”

 

“You ask a lot of questions that don’t matter,” Garnet said, folding her arms, gauntlets disappearing in a swirl of pink light. Futures where she needed them had already passed. “And I don’t have answers for you. I’m here to tell you, before you get the idea into your head… everything you do, every plan you make, against Steven, Pearl, or any of the rest of us? I’ll be there to stop you before you can make a move. The second you consider stepping out of line—you’ll already be poofed and bubbled.”

 

Jasper liked to think she didn’t know the meaning of fear. It was something she wouldn’t admit to under torture. Her pride wouldn’t allow it; no quartz warrior would suffer that indignity. If she had nothing else, she had that.

 

Still, for just a moment, something cold stirred in her chest. The Fusion’s tone was chilling. She couldn’t tell if the abomination was bluffing, but Jasper wasn’t fool enough to find out.

 

“Fine,” she spat, tilting her chin and staring down the slope of her Gem at the other. Garnet may have been looking back, but there was no way to know. “Where is the pearl now? If I owe her a debt, I’d like to settle it.”

 

“She’ll be along,” Garnet said, deliberately vague. Behind her visor, tri-colored eyes flickered toward the warp pad, just moments before it activated. Jasper squinted against the brilliant blue light, watching as Pearl’s slight form materialized on the crystal’s surface. She had one of Steven’s bags with her; things that needed washing. “Here she is.”

 

“I don’t need you to tell me that,” Jasper growled, rising to her full height.

 

Pearl’s eyes were wide, flitting rapidly between the Homeworld Gem and her best friend. The cheeseburger bag fell from her shoulder; Pearl’s Gem flickered, and she reached up, pulling her spear out with a flourish.

 

“No need,” Jasper said, spreading her palms to indicate that she was no threat. Her tone and expression said otherwise; Pearl gripped her spear a little tighter. “I’m not going to do anything. The Fusion has made my position very clear. It seems I owe you my life.”

 

“Garnet?”

 

“We can trust her for now,” Garnet replied, watching some of the tension drain from Pearl’s face. Her spear vanished in hand, and deep down, Garnet couldn’t help feeling somewhat vindicated. Jasper’s honesty wouldn’t be rewarded right away, and she was privately glad of it. “The future’s clear.” It wasn’t, not quite, but there was no reason to let Jasper know that her visions were anything but perfect.

 

Pearl nodded, gathering up Steven’s bag again and moving toward the living room. “Alright,” she said, moving past them. Jasper’s gaze followed her, and Pearl felt the hackles on the back of her neck rise. She deposited the bag on the kitchen counter. “I suppose you’ll be staying with us from now on, then.” It took effort to keep her voice even. She hoped Jasper wouldn’t notice, but knew Garnet knew her too well not to.

 

Luckily enough, Jasper didn’t; she was preoccupied.

 

The quartz watched her, jaw clenched. A pearl. A lowly _pearl_ had saved her. That she could somehow summon a weapon didn’t matter; she was a weaker class. One of the lowest, weakest castes on Homeworld. Pearls were decorative. She presented herself like a warrior, but there was no missing the dancer’s glide in her step, or her incredible smallness. Defective or not—and Jasper couldn’t decide which was worse—she was only a pearl.

 

And she owed her her life.

 

“Do you have any idea what this means?” Jasper growled, stepping over the living room table. She passed Garnet, and Pearl turned to find the quartz soldier blocking her escape. “You were there for the war. You should know Homeworld’s laws.”

 

Pearl froze under her scrutiny, eyes wide. She said nothing, then looked away. “It’s not like that. It doesn’t have to be.”

 

“It is,” Jasper growled, massive hands balling into fists. From the tense look on her pretty face, it was clear that Pearl did know. “You should have let me die honorably.”

 

“I hardly think falling into a chasm is an honorable death!” Pearl shot back, feeling her cheeks color. Instinct had her hand curling around the edge of the counter as she backed into it. Jasper stepped closer, and Pearl had to angle her neck uncomfortably to meet her hard glare. “This is Earth. The rules are different here.”

 

“It doesn’t matter where this is! I’m not _marrying_ a _pearl_!”

 

Garnet somehow hadn’t anticipated that. Here was a crossroads she hadn’t seen. “Calm down,” she commanded, drawing Pearl’s startled gaze. “No one’s marrying anyone over this.”

 

“Shut up. I don’t expect an abomination like you to have any idea,” Jasper snapped, not bothering to look away from the smaller Gem before her. She pointed an accusatory finger, nearly jabbing the star on her uniform. “ _She_ knows. She knows what quartzes do. She knows our laws.”

 

“Enlighten me, then. Either of you. I was in the war too, and this is the first I’ve heard of this.”

 

Pearl’s cheeks were burning, and Jasper’s were no better—but the quartz’s jaw was so tightly set that it was clear that she wouldn’t answer. Pearl swallowed hard. “It’s an old practice. I don’t think any of the quartzes we captured during the war were old enough to take it to heart,” she said slowly, “The ones we didn’t execute, anyway. It’s… it’s a sign of surrender. Or repaying a debt.”

 

“Most of the battalions sent to this miserable rock were fresh from their Kindergartens,” Jasper added, “You only won because they weren’t trained in the old way.”

 

“We were able to beat _you_ —“

 

“Pearl, stop,” Garnet cut in, seeing Jasper’s shoulders tense where her long hair didn’t completely cover her muscular frame. “Jasper, you’re not marrying Pearl.”

 

“I’m not taking orders from the likes of you,” she snarled, “If she really rescued me, then I have no choice! Those are the laws. She knew what she was doing. She’s got to live with it just like I do.” There was no uncertainty in her voice, no room for logic or counterpointing. Disgust and anger were there instead, heavy with stubbornness.

 

Jasper was a quartz through and through.

 

Pearl wasn’t about to argue that those rules didn’t apply to her caste; couldn’t, because back on Homeworld, pearls couldn’t possibly marry anyone, even their owners. She was out of her element here, out of her depth in ways she hadn’t considered in millennia. Saving Jasper had been pure instinct. She would have done it for anyone, Gem or otherwise.

 

“Pay your debt by making a truce with us instead,” Pearl tried, earning a withering glare from her would-be captive bride. She felt the knot of her sash pushing into her lower back, the only thing cushioning her from the sharp edge of the stone counter. “You don’t have to _marry_ me—or any of us!—we just don’t want to have to fight anymore.”

 

Jasper didn’t look interested. Actually, Jasper looked furious. “I won’t be insulted by a _pearl_ turning me down,” she growled, and whipped around as Garnet’s hand ghosted over her shoulder. “What, _Fusion_?!”

 

“You’ll be more respectful if you’re going to ‘marry’ her,” Garnet growled back, almost eye-level. Pearl looked pale and—truthfully—somewhat frightened. “If you’re set in this, you’d better believe you have to do it right.”

 

“Garnet!”

 

“Pearl, we can’t change her mind,” Garnet said, adjusting her visor. “Unfortunately, we’ll just have to deal with this.”

 

Color bloomed across Pearl’s cheeks, and she looked up sharply, pale eyes darting from Garnet’s face to Jasper’s instead. “Fine,” she said reluctantly, drawing in a shaking breath. The entire situation was unfamiliar and confusing, and Pearl couldn’t imagine it ending well. “I accept. As long as you _also_ agree to a truce while you’re on Earth… I’ll marry you.”


	2. Explaining Sin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper is not on her best behavior, but curiosity gets the better of her.

Explaining it to the others wasn’t going to be easy. But then, the entire thing made no sense, even to Garnet and Pearl. Marriage on Homeworld had everything to do with status and combined property—nothing at all like the Earth practice of the same name. Among quartzes it was almost always a punishment, a downgrade, a guarantee that their career advancement was over; a quartz saved by a ruby would be re-stationed, sent to live among her wife’s kind, permanently ostracized from other quartzes. And in most cases, higher ranked Gems, like topaz soldiers or the occasional Special, knew not to save a fallen quartz. No larimar would be seen married to a regular quartz soldier. Climbing the social ladder through marriage was practically unheard of; moreover, marrying a pearl—fancy, custom, or otherwise—was unquestionably like taking a chute in the opposite direction.

 

Jasper made it abundantly clear that she was unhappy about the prospect of sharing a pearl’s rank, even if—on Earth—that appeared to make her second-in-command among the remains of Rose Quartz’s army. Being second to Garnet was worse than being lower than dirt. That they were a team of equals fell upon deaf ears. Pearl was no happier, especially when Jasper demanded to know where their shared quarters were.

 

“You’re not staying in my room!” Pearl protested, flushed so deeply that her entire face went blue. “You can’t even open the door to the Temple—“

 

“It’s how it’s done,” Jasper insisted, massive arms crossed over her chest. It wasn’t the first time, or the last, that she’d defaulted to defending the practice. Jasper was a staunch traditionalist. “I told you, you should have left me to—“

 

“Ugh! I wish I had!”

 

Garnet tried not to see the humor in the situation, but it was hard to miss with Jasper falling into step behind Pearl and shadowing her around the house. She was beginning to understand how Peridot could find Jasper exhausting—and the similarities to Amethyst were hard to ignore. Several times, Pearl threatened to warp off, but Jasper only followed her to the pad.

 

Almost like an oversized kitten, Garnet mused, careful to keep her expression neutral as she watched the other two. For now, Jasper seemed willing to take the truce to heart, even if she was likely being deliberately annoying.

 

“Pearl, she’s not going to leave you alone,” Garnet said at length, and Pearl made a noise of acknowledgment that was plainly mixed with disgust. She tried vainly to gather more laundry, but kept finding herself faced with Jasper.

 

“Of course not,” Jasper agreed. It was perhaps the only intelligent thing the Fusion had said all day. “If I’m going to be married to her, I’m not letting her leave my sight. A weak pearl shouldn’t be on her own to start with!”

 

Pearl whirled on her wife-to-be, eyes wide with anger. “Excuse you?!” she shrilled, dropping the shirts she had gathered. “I don’t expect—or _need_ —help from you, Jasper! I’m not just some… some common pearl, you know! I can handle myself!”

 

“I’m sure,” Jasper’s sarcasm was almost tangible on the air. Pearl wanted to scream.

 

“I don’t have time for this,” Pearl snarled, drawing herself up and jabbing a finger at the diamond insignia between Jasper’s breasts. “I fought for a millennia to get Homeworld off this planet, and I’m not going to just sit for this kind of attitude under a roof I helped build!”

 

Whatever reaction she had anticipated, a roar of laughter wasn’t it.

 

Jasper shook with mirth, laughed long and hard without restraint until the beginnings of tears were in the corners of her golden eyes. The flush of anger across Pearl’s cheeks and nose was impossible to miss, a dark stain of blue stark against her alabaster skin.

 

“Build? Fight? Next you’ll be telling me that runty amethyst of yours sings and dances. Your entire operation is backwards,” Jasper sneered, catching Pearl’s forearm in hand. Her fingers closed easily around most of the smaller Gem’s arm, and when she pulled, Pearl had no choice but to stumble forward into her with an undignified cry that was mostly muffled by the bigger Gem’s chest. Jasper’s toothy grin widened as Pearl tried vainly to pry her fingers away from her elbow and wrist. “No wonder there’re only you four left!”

 

“Let her go, Jasper,” Garnet hissed, appearing at the top of the staircase to the bedroom. “I won’t ask twice.”

 

Jasper clicked her tongue in disappointment; Pearl’s arm slipped from Jasper’s grasp, and she turned away. She resumed gathering up dirty clothes, stuffing them into a spare pillowcase that also needed to be washed. Deprived of her fight, the quartz rounded on Garnet.

 

“You’re not part of this, _Fusion,_ ” Jasper said with a sneer. She crossed her arms over her impressive chest, leaning her weight onto her left leg. “This is between me and my wife.”

 

“Act like it, or get out of our house,” Garnet quipped, reluctantly pulling rank despite long being unused to it. She had only been the Crystal Gems’ leader for fourteen short years—but Jasper needn’t know that. “I’m still in charge here.”

 

The quartz scowled down her Gem, then made a derisive noise, apparently willing to shelf this for the time being. Garnet sighed inwardly, stepping past her despite the narrow space between Steven’s bed and the edge of the loft. “Whatever,” Jasper growled.

 

“Pearl, I’ve got to get back to the barn,” the Fusion said reluctantly, inspecting Pearl’s arm for bruising. She found none, and was relieved, however slightly. Pearl’s eyebrows knitted together in a mixture of worry and distress, and without a thought, Garnet smoothed down her bangs, skirting her Gem. Pearl closed her eyes, enjoying the familiar touch more than she would have liked to admit, and the alabaster Gem managed a nod.

 

“I understand,” she said, mustering up a smile. She could ignore Jasper’s glowering gaze in favor of seeing her best friend off. “Lapis is gone already—but you probably gathered that. I suppose we’ll be moving back here now that this Cluster business is done?”

 

Garnet made a sound of agreement. “I know Steven’s missed his bed,” she said wryly, “And we shouldn’t have left the Temple unsupervised for so long. It’s luck we haven’t had any monsters destroy the house.”

 

“Monsters?” Jasper pried, curiosity getting the better of her.

 

“Pearl can explain while I’m gone,” Garnet said, giving the smaller Gem’s hair an affectionate ruffle. She tried not to laugh, cheeks flushing an attractive blue in her embarrassment. Garnet flashed a rare smile, knowing Jasper couldn’t see it, and drew away. She strode past Jasper easily, descending the stairs and making her way toward the warp.

 

Pearl cast an uneasy look up at her ‘wife’, but nodded vaguely, gathering up Steven’s comforter into her arms. “I’ll fill you in, Jasper,” she said, a sour hint in her normally sweet voice. The knight nodded to the warp as Garnet activated it, motioning for her to follow as she made her way toward the stairs as well. “I need to start on this laundry. We can talk outside.”

 

Jasper grunted, but didn’t ask for clarification about this ‘laundry’ business. Instead, she trailed after Pearl, standing close to her on the warp with her arms folded.

 

Earth’s warp system was no different from many colonies, but the incredibly short trip up to the Temple’s palm was disorienting all the same. “Primitive,” Jasper grumbled, watching as Pearl slipped past and started loading the contents of her makeshift bag into the top hatch of one of two metal cubes. She raised a critical eyebrow, but waited for Pearl to volunteer the promised information before asking other, less interesting questions.

 

Instead, Pearl blithely ignored her, producing a box of laundry soap from her Gem and loading a plastic dispenser.

 

The quartz grit her teeth impatiently. When Pearl started to hum under her breath, she stepped off of the warp toward her. “Monsters,” she prompted, “What did the Fusion mean? Earth is populated by organics, but none of them are dangerous. Not to Gems.”

 

Pearl was silent for several more seconds than Jasper’s patience lasted, but she’d stopped humming, and that was a start. Sort of. She finished whatever she was doing to the washer and turned a dial, and Jasper could feel the hum of electricity as the machine activated. The quartz soldier was about to speak again when Pearl opened her mouth to explain.

 

“After Homeworld’s troops fled, the Diamonds launched a final attack against our army. What do you suppose happened to the survivors, Jasper?”

 

The question took her aback. Jasper’s teeth clicked audibly when she shut her mouth, a distinct frown forming on her lips. “According to our records, Gems were wiped out on Earth,” she murmured, “None of you were supposed to survive.”

 

Pearl laughed coolly, gathering Steven’s comforter up and hugging it to herself briefly before she took to hanging it. It only needed to air out after weeks of collecting dust. “Thousands of Gems died,” she said, “Many more were tainted by the radiation. Their forms changed. They lost their minds. It only took a century or two before Garnet, Rose Quartz and I were the only ones left. Rose protected us with her shield.” Pearl paused, determinedly keeping her back to Jasper. Tenuous alliance or no, Pearl didn’t want to show her former enemy weakness. “We found Amethyst after. She wasn’t corrupted. Garnet believes that it was because she was still being incubated in the Kindergarten when the Final Strike hit.

 

“The corrupted Gems turned into beasts. Some combined with animals here on Earth. Their strength multiplied, their sense faded. They seek out other Gems and beasts, and sometimes attack the Temple, looking for us. We fight and bubble them to try to… to do something for them, someday. When we can figure out something.”

 

“You suspend them to keep them from losing their minds further,” Jasper concluded, and her low voice was sour. “You’re fighting your own army.”

 

The Crystal Gem nodded slowly. “A very appropriate punishment in Homeworld’s eyes, I’m sure,” Pearl spat, “I’m sure your Diamond would be quite pleased.”

 

Jasper didn’t answer. She didn’t doubt that Yellow Diamond would be pleased to hear that the rebels had spent thousands of years fighting their own, stuck on this miserable planet, unaware of their impending doom. Even if the Cluster had been taken care of, it was only a matter of time before Yellow Diamond came to collect, and the commander would use the Crystal Gems as an example for future rebellions; probably already had. There was a reason their defeat had never been announced back home. As far as Homeworld’s Gems were concerned, Earth existed as a dead planet, not worth colonizing or returning to. Most older soldiers probably didn’t care, either.

 

She didn’t necessarily _agree_ with her Diamond, in this instance, and her wife didn’t need to hear something so traitorous. They weren’t friends. They were barely a step away from enemies.

 

“It must be hard to fight your own ranks like that,” Jasper settled on finally, and Pearl spun so quickly to face her that the bigger Gem was surprised she didn’t keep on spinning. Wide blue eyes were on hers, equal parts critical and surprised, and Jasper frowned deeply. “You have my sympathy.”

 

Pearl stared, and Jasper wondered whether she had sprouted an extra limb or two that only Pearl could see. The terse expression faded, and Pearl’s narrow shoulders slumped slightly, tension draining just barely from her lithe form.

 

“Thank you,” she murmured, and Jasper almost didn’t hear her over the sound of the wind and washing machine. “It means a lot.”


	3. Slip and Slide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper and Pearl spend the afternoon talking inside the house.

One thing Jasper and Pearl didn’t seem to agree on—among many—was whether or not the marriage was immediately binding. Jasper seemed to think so; she called Pearl her wife, rather than by name, much to Pearl’s annoyance. By contrast, Pearl couldn’t bring herself to think of Jasper that way, not immediately. She tried to explain that ‘marriage’ on Earth was altogether unlike what Jasper described, that this was a very different. Jasper saw no reason to adopt the human definition of the term, even if she grinned wolfishly at Pearl’s explanation about _romance_ being part of the Earthly equivalent.

 

“I never said I’d court someone like you,” Jasper scoffed, but she deliberately leered at the smaller Gem. Pearl was attractive; there was no ignoring or denying that. She may have been an older pearl, but aside from a shift toward sheer clothing, pearls were largely the same back on Homeworld. Not that Jasper interacted with them often; she could easily retire and live in relative comfort for the rest of her days, living among the upper middleclass, and there were a fair number of Gems who owned pearls in that sector. But the quartz preferred action to idleness. It was what had landed her on silly mission to this accursed wet planet in the first place.

 

She supposed she deserved this fate. She had gotten lax in her old age.

 

Jasper didn’t much like to think about those things, and she turned her sharp gaze down on Pearl again, grinning wickedly. “Even if you weren’t a traitor, it’s just not done. A quartz with a pearl.”

 

That drew color to Pearl’s cheeks, and Jasper laughed so loudly that it shook the house. Teasing Pearl was fun; her reactions were all too transparent.

 

She caught Pearl’s wide blue eyes flickering up toward the massive portrait hung over the primitive door to their dwelling. Jasper turned to look, and her smile faded. “Rose Quartz, huh?” she muttered, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t see why she insists on that runty form now. It’s shameful.”

 

Pearl whirled about, ready to give Jasper a lecture like none other, but something in the quartz’s expression gave her pause. Jasper was frowning, but she looked perplexed rather than spiteful. The smaller Gem huffed, looking away. “Steven isn’t Rose,” she said simply, “He’s her son. Half human.”

 

“That’s impossible,” Jasper snapped, “We’re not organics. Gems don’t have children.”

 

This was not a conversation Pearl wanted to be having with Jasper.

 

“She gave up her physical form and he inherited her Gem,” Pearl said, ignoring the knot of feelings that tried to choke her voice. “He isn’t Rose. He’s half organic.”

 

“A hybrid?” Confusion overrode the distaste in Jasper’s tone, and she sighed. “No wonder she… _he_ didn’t put up a fight.” It also explained why the child hadn’t poofed when Jasper knocked him out. Organics were strangely unified in that their bodies were delicate and healed slowly, wounds left for all to see. Jasper didn’t understand it, but she reasoned it was one more piece of proof that Gems were the superior race.

 

Pearl nodded slowly. “We’re still training him. Earth has been at peace for thousands of years—before this Cluster business, before you and Peridot came, we thought we were completely cut off,” she explained, pressing her palms together and folding her fingers for a moment, then abruptly turning on her heel to tidy up the kitchen. She didn’t like to think about how vulnerable the Earth was, or how woefully unprepared they were for Homeworld’s return without Rose there.

 

Jasper watched her critically for long moments before following her, observing silently as Pearl turned a handle to produce running water from a faucet. She wondered when humans had gotten advanced enough for this kind of basic plumbing; Gemkind didn’t need it, but she’d been among other species that relied on liquid for more than keeping machinery running without magic. Her visit to Earth had been long before mankind was worth noting, before they had electricity or much recognizable civilization to speak of; clearly, four thousand short years had changed that.

 

“I’ll oversee his training,” Jasper said unexpectedly, and her wife nearly dropped the dish she had started scrubbing back into the sink.

 

“Th-that’s not necessary,” Pearl spluttered, glancing up at her warily. “He’s doing fine on missions. Besides, for you, that would be treason. Why would you want to help us oppose Homeworld?”

 

The quartz soldier raised an eyebrow at her. Pearl’s concern was… strange, coming from a rebel, even if she wasn’t wrong. “What choice do I have? We’re married, aren’t we? I can’t go back there now,” she said, watching color come back into Pearl’s cheeks all over again. Her smile was more grim than anything. “If I’m going to die here, I’ll make sure to put up the best possible fight.”

 

“We’re not going to _die_ ,” Pearl objected automatically, looking away. “Yellow Diamond has no idea when the Cluster should’ve emerged. We have time.”

 

“Not that much time,” Jasper spat, “Yellow Diamond will come to collect. We’ll need as many soldiers as possible when that happens.”

 

“Why are you trying to help?” the smaller Gem turned on her. “It can’t be because we’re—married. What’s your angle?”

 

Pearl was smarter than Jasper gave her credit for, but the quartz raised an eyebrow. “What angle?” she asked, feigning innocence. Pearl didn’t buy it. “I don’t want to _die_ , what about that is difficult for you to imagine? Learn to adapt to change or be left to dust. Didn’t you learn that back home?”

 

“Earth is my home,” was Pearl’s grumbled answer, and she turned her attention back to the dishes.

 

“You sound positively _thrilled_ about it.”

 

“I’m not ‘thrilled’ to have my home threatened again!” Pearl huffed, scrubbing away at too-old remains of dried food on Steven’s frying pan. “We worked tirelessly for eons to protect this place, lost countless good soldiers, and you’re saying we’ll have to do it again? Of course I sound ‘ _thrilled_ ,’ Jasper.”

 

Jasper’s grin practically bubbled into her voice, and she leaned in close to Pearl’s ear. “I meant about Earth being your home. Do you miss Homeworld, little rebel?”

 

“I’ll smash your Gem,” Pearl warned, brandishing the frying pan as she turned it over to scrub the bottom. They both knew the threat was empty; Pearl was the one who had proposed their truce to begin with. Still, Jasper leaned away, out of easy range, just to be sure. “No one misses that awful place less than I do.”

 

“Why?” Jasper asked, arms akimbo. Pearl wondered if Jasper was deliberately taking up as much of the kitchen as she possibly could, but she resolutely kept at her task. Jasper continued. “You’re a pearl. A fancy one. You had a plush life on Homeworld. Didn’t you just follow your owner here and get stuck?”

 

“Do you only know how to ask terrible questions?” Pearl shot back, glaring up at her. Jasper stared back, perplexed, an eyebrow hiked precariously high. The knight heaved a sigh, looking away. “I followed Rose Quartz of my own accord. Our… my life on Homeworld had nothing to do with deciding to protect the Earth.”

 

“You were _that_ pearl?” Jasper asked in disbelief, staring at the pink-haired Gem. “The ‘Terrifying Renegade’?”

 

“There weren’t exactly _many_ pearls that joined the rebellion,” Pearl snapped, “Why is _that_ hard to imagine?”

 

The Terrifying Renegade had been the stuff of legends, and Jasper’s keen memory hadn’t lost a single story even thousands of years later. Her squad had lost several members to Rose Quartz’s second-in-command, even if she herself had never fought the pearl. Her deeds on the battlefield were still whispered among quartzes, a warning to the newer generations; even weak Gems were dangerous cornered, and the caste system ignored that. Any quartz stupid enough to underestimate her opponent deserved to be killed and harvested.

 

Rose Quartz’s pearl was a whirlwind of blades, a harbinger of certain death. If Gems didn’t fall to her swords on the battlefield, most often, the leader of the rebellion wasn’t far behind. Even multi-quartz fusions lost to the legendary Rose Quartz.

 

By contrast, the slim Gem before her looked nothing like Jasper would have imagined. She was small, and dainty, and defective—here she was doing what a pearl _should_ have been tasked with, tending to a home and cleaning, not destroying seasoned and fresh warriors alike in the blink of an eye.

 

Jasper wondered if she could still fight, or if the legends were nothing more than hot air.

 

“I mean, look at you,” Jasper floundered, aware that the silence between them had lasted too long. She gestured up and down Pearl’s lithe frame, taking a step back to look her over. “You don’t look it. You’re…” she paused, then scowled. Words failed her. “You’re just a pearl. I can’t imagine _you_ on the battlefield. You surrendered last time.”

 

Pearl flushed, looking away. “Last time… you killed my best friend with a weapon I’ve never seen and had Steven at your mercy. Fighting would have been pointless,” she muttered, moving on to a bowl that had some kind of fossilized cereal clinging to it. “I’d rather be captured alive.”

 

“Yellow Diamond would’ve tortured you,” Jasper pointed out. “Especially if she knew which pearl you were.”

 

“Then it’s a good thing your ship crashed, isn’t it? I’m much happier without seeing the General ever again.”

 

Jasper’s other eyebrow hiked up at that. _Again_ meant that Pearl had—somehow—met Yellow Diamond before the rebellion and survived, and Jasper wondered just how highly ranked Rose Quartz had been within the forbidden Pink Court before she defected. But that kind of thinking wouldn’t get her anywhere; Pink Diamond’s court had been dissolved even before the war started, before Rose Quartz’s rebellion. If there were a correlation, it was old news.

 

“Good for you, I guess,” Jasper relented, “Not so good for me.”

 

“You’ll live,” Pearl said dryly, “Besides, you’re ‘married’ to a real live legend now, aren’t you? That should be worth something.”

 

Despite herself, Jasper laughed a little. “Infamy isn’t celebrated,” she replied, leaning against the low counter. “And stop saying ‘married’ like that. Like it’s not real. Are you ashamed or something?”

 

“Shouldn’t I be? This isn’t exactly a happy arrangement for either of us,” Pearl pointed out, frowning deeply. Her brows creased, and Jasper stared evenly down at her.

 

“I can think of worse Gems it could’ve been,” Jasper practically purred, and Pearl flicked soap at her out of the sink basin. Jasper recoiled instinctively, roughly shoving the suds off of her forearm. “Hey!”

 

“It’s just soap, it can’t hurt you,” Pearl said, indicating her arms—covered to the elbows with the stuff.

 

“It doesn’t mean I want your Earth filth on me,” the orange Gem shot back, and Pearl laughed. Somehow, that gave Jasper pause. The sound was crisp and clear and unlike the nagging, aggravating tone Pearl insisted on using when she spoke.

 

It was lovely.

 

“That’s funny, huh?”

 

“You use soap to get _clean_ ,” Pearl explained, running water over her arms to rinse off the suds.

 

“On Homeworld, we use oil,” Jasper pointed out, and Pearl rolled her eyes.

 

“Welcome to Earth. We’ve got both,” she said, then, in a move that surprised both of them, offered; “If you need oil for your Gem, I still have some. From before the war. It’s not very useful for pearls, and Amethyst thinks it’s gross.”

 

“Your amethyst is a fool, if it’s from Homeworld,” Jasper said, “You’re just giving it away? And here I thought you didn’t like me.”

 

That got color creeping into Pearl’s cheeks again, and she looked away. “It’s just sitting in my room. I’ve never needed it,” she explained, “Think of it as payment, if you do decide to help train Steven.”

 

“I’ve already decided that,” Jasper scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically. “But I’ll take your offer. It can be a wedding gift.”


	4. Normal Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything goes smoothly until the other Crystal Gems come home.

By the time night fell, Pearl was starting to wonder whether something was wrong with her. Jasper was aggravating, asked awful questions, didn’t believe in boundaries, and was never more than a few feet away at a time. This should have been annoying, should have worn at Pearl’s wit’s end, but somehow Pearl quickly found comfort in her presence. She was rarely alone, and with Garnet and the others at the barn, the house should have been too empty, too quiet.

 

Jasper filled her peripheral vision, asked questions incessantly, and alternated between being rude outright and trying to be somewhat pleasant. They breezed through a number of topics, with Jasper quickly learning that ‘Rose Quartz’ drew not only the strongest emotional response from her wife, but also that she was a topic to avoid if she wanted Pearl to give more than a clipped response. The Homeworld Gem wasn’t stupid; Pearl could dance around the topic of the rebel leader all she wanted, but it was abundantly obvious that there had been _something_ between them. Jasper couldn’t decide whether to be amused or appalled.

 

Not that Pearl wasn’t easy on the eyes. She imagined that many aristocratic Gems were involved one way or another with their own pearls back home; they had to be able to do more than just _carry_ things and look nice. Pearl seemed offended by the suggestion that she was especially busy for her kind, and Jasper had apologized somewhat reluctantly.

 

“You’re not exactly a normal pearl,” she said defensively, folding her arms and looking away. “Your reactions are all backwards. I don’t know what will and won’t piss you off.”

 

“Try talking to me like a _normal Gem_ , then,” Pearl quipped, looking up from remaking Steven’s bed. Jasper wasn’t sure why she had done this three times in a row, but she seemed content with her work this time around. “Not just a pearl. Stars above, do they speak to every class differently now? Next you’ll tell me cut and facet matters, too.”

 

“They’ve always mattered,” Jasper muttered, but Pearl’s suggestion nagged at her, brought a frown to her plush lips. She watched the lithe Gem smooth down the comforter one last time. “You’re saying I should speak to you like—what, another quartz? You pearls are too sensitive for that.”

 

“I’ve lived with Amethyst since we found her after the war.” Pearl rolled her eyes, and Jasper recognized the gesture as one of exasperation.

 

“The runt? She’s not a real quartz.”

 

Pearl’s icy glare could have cracked lesser Gems. “She is. Her size has nothing to do with her quality as a Gem _or_ her skill as a warrior.”

 

Jasper huffed, blowing at a stray lock of white hair. “She wasn’t trained among quartzes. She’s never seen battle. That’s what I meant. She’s not a _soldier,_ she’s barely the size of a technician.”

 

“She’s still a quartz,” Pearl said, “Rose Quartz trained her. That’s good enough.”

 

“A rose quartz can’t train an amethy—How backwards _is_ this mud ball!? You honestly think that counts?”

 

Pearl straightened, dusting her hands off and setting them on her slim hips, staring down at Jasper flatly. “You think being personally trained by one of the strongest Gems the Pink Court ever saw _doesn’t_ count? She may not have been trained with a squadron, but she’s better than you’d guess, looking at her. Don’t underestimate her.”

 

Jasper privately didn’t think that was saying much; the amethyst was small and hadn’t struck her as being remotely threatening. But then, she supposed the same could be said of her wife. The orange Gem pursed her lips, then shrugged. “I don’t get to fight her, so what does it matter?” she asked, “My point is, she’s not a soldier. You would be bluer than a kyanite for the next century if I treated you like another quartz.”

 

Sure enough, color rose in Pearl’s cheeks at that, and she looked away as she made her way toward the stairs. “I don’t mean you should be vulgar! Honestly! Quartzes…”

 

“Am I wrong?” Jasper asked, easily mounting the staircase in only a few strides. Pearl looked up, startled to find herself faced with striking gold eyes, which didn’t help her blush any. The quartz was grinning wolfishly, and she leaned in, closing much of the distance between them so quickly that Pearl had no opportunity to react beyond a startled squeak. Her voice was a low purr. “I really don’t think you could handle it. A prim little Gem like you.”

 

“Try me,” Pearl said quickly—too quickly.

 

Jasper paused to consider, then canted her head to whisper in Pearl’s ear.

 

She didn’t get more than a sentence in before Pearl (predictably blue-faced) whirled to strike her—but Jasper was ready for that and easily caught her small hand before it could connect with her cheek. She leaned back and let out a sharp bark of laughter.

 

“I can’t believe—you actually— _Jasper_!” Pearl spluttered, not that the bigger Gem could likely hear her over her own laughter. “That’s lewd!”

 

“You’re such a palace Gem!” Jasper howled, wiping tears of mirth from the corners of her eyes with her free hand. “Admit it, I was right. You’re a prim, proper little prude, just like the rest of them!”

 

Pearl’s cheeks were blazing blue, and she tugged uselessly at the arm trapped in Jasper’s grasp. It didn’t hurt, but the quartz wasn’t making any move to release her. “You don’t actually talk like that with other quartzes!” she insisted, “You’re just teasing me!”

 

“Like a ‘ _normal Gem_.’” Jasper couldn’t imitate Pearl’s voice well; her baritone was too deep, but the effect was the same. Pearl drew in a breath, ready to lecture her, but Jasper spoke first, staring evenly into wide blue eyes; “Or like a palace pearl. You have to pick. I’m not a kind Gem, but I’ll… try. In light of our relationship.”

 

 _Relationship_ sounded an awful lot more serious than Pearl wanted to think about, and she looked away. “We don’t have castes on Earth,” Pearl mumbled, “I’d rather we try to be equals. I realize that must be… unusual, for you, but I haven’t—“

 

“You don’t have to explain every little thing,” Jasper cut her off, finally releasing her grip on the smaller Gem’s arm. “I’m not stupid. There aren’t enough of you Crystal Gems to maintain any real hierarchy on this planet. Of course you adapted.”

 

“I never said you were stupid,” Pearl said defensively. “You’ve made it very clear that you’re anything but.”

 

The firmness in Pearl’s voice was surprising, and Jasper finally let her slip past her, turning on her heel to follow the little Gem downstairs. Her very limited experience with other pearls—and more frequently, their owners—had her expecting otherwise. Quartzes weren’t famed for their brains, regardless of military rank; other jaspers were often treated as fools from extraction. Education outside of battle tactics was a rarity.

 

Jasper herself had studied, of course. She was a veteran. Decorated from victories long after the loss of Earth, against lesser enemies, organic and plasmatic. She was big for her class and mingled with chalcedony lieutenants and onyx generals on occasion; if she hadn’t been sent back to Earth, she might have risen in rank someday. It wasn’t likely, but extraordinary soldiers broke the mould. Jasper prided herself on that.

 

She frowned a little, joining Pearl to sit on the couch unbidden. The entire thing sagged under her mass, and she watched Pearl scoot farther away with some interest. “You think I’m smart?” she probed, earning a startled look from her wife.

 

“What sort of question—Of course you are. If you were just brute strength, we wouldn’t have had any trouble with you at all,” Pearl said quickly, frowning. “You’re obviously a capable fighter, and that fight with—with Malachite, you were obviously driving the decisions there. Switching between fighting styles like that isn’t easy unless you’ve studied and practiced. That takes brains.”

 

“I’m a quartz,” Jasper said, but she grinned lopsidedly at the praise, and she doubly enjoyed the way Pearl looked away, plainly flustered. “Most Gems don’t think we’re more than muscle.”

 

Pearl said nothing for a moment. That assumption had been what saved the rebels early on; no one had expected a ragtag team led by a quartz and a pearl to pose much of a threat, and by the time Homeworld had caught on, they had enough Gempower to stand up to a real threat.

 

She sighed, wondering briefly just when in the war Jasper had seen action—but she didn’t want to ask. “Quartzes aren’t stupid. Just like pearls aren’t weak,” she said finally, “I think we’re both proof of that.”

 

Jasper was about to respond when the warp behind them activated, and on instinct, she was on her feet faster than Pearl could blink.

 

“We’re home!” Steven called cheerfully, flanked by Garnet and Amethyst. The other two Crystal Gems didn’t look nearly as pleased as he did; Amethyst immediately cast a withering look at Jasper, sizing her up, and Garnet’s face was carefully neutral as ever. “Peridot’s staying in the barn with Lapis for now!”

 

Jasper’s expression darkened at the mention of her former captor, but she looked to Pearl. “Peridot joined you?” she asked, almost accusatorially, and Pearl nodded. Jasper scowled. “What in the cosmos could have changed her loyalty so fast?”

 

“She called Yellow D a clod,” Amethyst said proudly, making her way for the kitchen with a pleased grin on her plump face. “Didn’t need our help or nothin’.”

 

“ _What_!?”

 

“It’s a long story,” Pearl said quickly, wincing as Jasper’s glare narrowed on her. “I’ll explain in detail later. But Peridot also helped Steven defeat the Cluster while we fought on Mask Island.”

 

Again, Jasper demanded; “ _What!?”_ only this time, her eyes were wide with disbelief. Of all things—her mind raced to her former mission as Peridot’s escort and protector, and she gawked at Pearl while her mind tried to catch up to reality. If Peridot had insulted Her Diamond directly _and_ aided in sabotaging the mission…

 

They really were dead.

 

Yellow Diamond was going to wipe this miserable planet off of every star map herself.

 

For the second time that day, Jasper found that she truly understood the meaning of fear—only this time there was nothing she could do. She was stranded, among enemies, and the one Gem that could have proven useful toward getting home and out of this disastrous mess had botched their only chance at escape.

 

“Jasper, you’re pale,” Pearl said, alarmed by the way color drained from Jasper’s face. Her stripes remained unchanged, but that only made the contrast more noticeable as the rest of her skin tried to match the stark white of her hair.

 

Pearl’s voice sounded distorted, and Jasper stared at her for several moments. By now, Garnet had steered Steven past them both, keeping herself between Jasper and her charge, even if the quartz was standing stock still. The world pitched, and Jasper was sure that she could taste seawater in the back of her mouth for just a moment.

 

“I need air,” she said quickly, stomping past Pearl and the others. The door made a cracking sound as she threw it open, and Pearl cringed at the too-familiar sound of hinges breaking as Jasper fled the building.

 

“What’s _that_ about?” Amethyst asked in disbelief, and all eyes turned on Pearl.

 

“I—I don’t have a clue,” Pearl said quickly, brows creased. She should go after her, she told herself, but she stayed rooted to the spot for several crucial seconds.

 

“Is she gonna be okay?” Steven piped up, and Garnet smoothed down his bangs soothingly.

 

“She’s just upset,” Garnet said, making eye contact with Pearl through her visor. The pale Gem looked up at her, small and worried and uncertain. “Go talk to her. She’s not going to listen to anyone but you, Pearl.”

 

Somehow, that wasn’t reassuring at all.


	5. Snags

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper works out most of her anger constructively. Pearl takes care of the rest.

Jasper’s footsteps were easy enough to follow; her boots left deep imprints on the soft sand, and even in the dark Pearl had relatively little trouble tracking her. She’d gone away from Beach City, toward the cliffs, and Pearl wondered briefly whether she would lose her trail where the tide pools began. She skirted the rocks without a word, squinting in the darkness until she could make out the bigger Gem’s form—a good thirty feet up the cliff face.

 

“Really,” Pearl murmured flatly, craning her neck to look up at the quartz warrior, who seemed to be somewhat stuck when it came to finding her next handhold. “You’re scaling a _wet cliff_ in the dark?”

 

Jasper didn’t answer, resolutely digging her fingers into the granite cliff face until she was satisfied with her hold. Then, dragging herself up, she repeated the process. Pearl watched, privately impressed.

 

“I’ll meet you up top!” Pearl called out, and the quiet grunt from above could have meant anything. She sighed, making her way around, past the house and up the sloping grassy hill. The dancer took her time, not particularly in any hurry to deal with an angry quartz. At least outside she might not feel cornered; Pearl had dealt with captives from Homeworld’s side during the war, and while claustrophobia wasn’t something Gems typically suffered from, larger Gems didn’t much like to be confined. Pearl wondered sometimes if it was something to do with coming from Kindergartens, but she certainly hadn’t ever asked. Amethyst didn’t like to talk about those kinds of feelings.

 

Pearl chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. She didn’t know what to tell Jasper, what would help her. Then again, she didn’t know what was _wrong_.

 

She supposed the reality of her situation must have finally hit. Pearl gnawed at the edge of her thumb in thought as she neared the lighthouse. It had been one thing for the two of them to spend the afternoon together; Jasper asked more questions than any Gem she’d ever known, but that had largely been on her terms. She had been faced with an ally—tenuous or not—who was willing to give her answers. Being faced with a team of enemy Gems, with the news that Peridot had mouthed off to her matriarch… Pearl could understand Jasper’s decision to flee the house, in light of that.

 

It didn’t mean she knew what to _do_ about it. But she could try to understand.

 

When she reached the fence, Pearl leaned precariously out to get a glimpse of her wife. Jasper wasn’t far off now, but had stopped short, a good fifteen feet from the crest of the cliff. She was staring angrily down her Gem at something—or nothing, Pearl mused—and Pearl couldn’t see much of her face. The cool night wind whipped up, drawing her long, damp hair away from her face and then back again in turn, and Pearl leaned against the fence to watch her.

 

“Can I help?” Pearl offered at length, and this, finally, had Jasper looking up at her, golden eyes gleaming dangerously.

 

“I don’t need your pity.”

 

“I was referring to your climb,” Pearl lied, carefully climbing over the fence to perch on the ledge. The alabaster Gem endured Jasper’s glaring, folding her hands in her lap. “If you’re having trouble with handholds…”

 

“I’m not,” Jasper hissed, and to prove it, she hauled herself up another few feet. Pearl watched with interest as she slowly completed her ascent. Muscles strained under Jasper’s uniform, dusty from her climb, and Pearl was careful not to insult her further by offering a hand again. Finally, Jasper came to sit by her, leaving more than an arm’s length between them.

 

Pearl watched her as she finger-combed her unruly mane, much the way Amethyst did when she was upset, and she wondered if Jasper realized how transparent she was. Her face was a mask of cold fury, arms tucked close to her torso, the perfect outward appearance of an island. Jasper didn’t want her to be there, Pearl knew, but she hadn’t told her to leave.

 

So perhaps Jasper didn’t _want_ to want her there.

 

“Did climbing help?” Pearl asked cautiously.

 

“I’m still stuck on this miserable planet,” Jasper grumbled, fingers snagging on a knot in her hair. She tugged hard, snarling in frustration. “If this were a temporary situation it might be bearable. But no. Peridot really did all that? I’ll pulverize her!”

 

“The truce includes her, you know,” Pearl admonished, earning a glare. She paused, then sighed, changing tactics. “Do you want me to help with your hair?”

 

Narrowed golden eyes blinked at that, and Jasper straightened. “Why would I want that?” she asked, sizing Pearl up. There had to be some other angle.

 

When Pearl produced a brush from her Gem, Jasper moved further from her. The smaller Gem smiled easily. “It’s not a weapon,” she explained, “It’ll help with the knots.”

 

“I never said I wanted you to touch my hair.”

 

“Do you want to keep ripping out tangles?” Pearl challenged, and Jasper reluctantly shook her head. She looked cornered and ready to hop off of the cliff’s edge if Pearl came close enough to actually use the brush, though, and Pearl sighed. She stood, easily swinging her leg over the white painted fence, and motioned for Jasper to follow her. The quartz did so with a low grumble, and Pearl led her part way down the hill, away from the wind and out of sight of the lighthouse window.

 

“Why do you want to?” Jasper grumbled, arms akimbo. “If this is part of that ‘romance’ nonsense, I’m _not_ in the mood.”

 

“It’s not,” Pearl assured her stiffly, feeling her cheeks heat at the notion. She sat, gesturing to the grass in front of her. “You’ve never had your hair brushed before? We pearls are very good at it.” She paused, worrying the inside of her cheek and wincing a little; it was still raw from earlier. “You’re upset, and I understand that, so I’d like to help. I used to brush Amethyst’s hair for her.”

 

“You can’t possibly understand,” Jasper spat. But she did lower herself down in front of Pearl, partially facing her.

 

Pearl sighed. “Alright; I don’t understand your _exact position_ , Jasper,” she amended, moving closer on her knees and gathering up a handful of the other Gem’s long hair. It would have been easier to go from behind, but Jasper was intent on watching her, and Pearl could work around that. Her suspicion wasn’t entirely unwarranted; only a few hours ago Pearl had been ready to run her through with a sword over an unsavory comment about the rebellion.

 

Pearl started brushing from the bottom, going slow to avoid tugging too much on knots higher up. She gripped Jasper’s hair with practiced ease, working at snags so that the hair didn’t pull at the quartz’s scalp. “I do understand that you’re unhappy, and have every right to be. I know you don’t want to be here. I don’t know what you expected would happen _later_ , with this… marriage business between us, but not being able to go home must be a shock.”

 

“Spare me your useless diplomacy,” Jasper grumbled. “Pretty words don’t mean anything.”

 

That earned her a chuckle, and Pearl shook her head. “If I could use diplomacy to get you back to Homeworld safely, I would,” she said, pausing to deliberately meet the bigger Gem’s gaze. “I meant it when I said we don’t want to fight. We will, of course, but if there were a way to send you back safely… please believe I would.”

 

It didn’t make sense, and Jasper nearly said so. But pretty, wide blue eyes stared beseechingly at her, and the soldier settled for nodding around the spongy feeling in her throat.

 

“Why?” Jasper asked finally, and Pearl resumed her task, resorting to long strokes with the brush now that she’d worked out much of the tangles in the lower half of Jasper’s hair.

 

Pearl didn’t have an answer to that, not right away. She said nothing, shifting to pull more hair over Jasper’s shoulder, brushing through fresh waves of soft white locks.

 

“Being trapped is the worst feeling I can imagine,” Pearl said carefully, “You didn’t choose Earth. You never asked to be here. Your experiences so far have been terrible, between fighting us and Lapis. I can empathize, to a point. A warrior like you shouldn’t be caged.

 

“Amethyst’s only known Earth, and even she gets restless on a small planet like this. Rose Quartz is the only quartz I’ve ever known who could settle down, and she wasn’t exactly average,” Pearl went on, standing to circle Jasper half way, taking her left side now. Here the knots were worse, and Pearl started working at them with her fingers first. “Neither are you. I know you’ll enjoy the challenge of Gem beasts, if you decide to fight them with us, but that’s not the same as seeing _battle_. And having to fight Homeworld if they send soldiers… you shouldn’t. It’s just unfair.”

 

Jasper listened, perplexed. “That’s a lot of consideration from you, wife,” she muttered, and Pearl snorted.

 

“You can use my name, you know,” Pearl admonished, “Wife sounds so stiff.”

 

“Maybe I’m stiff,” Jasper countered, but with Pearl brushing her hair, it was hard to hold onto the day’s tension. For that matter, her anger was ebbing, too, faster than climbing the cliff had taken the edge off.

 

“You called Lapis by name,” Pearl pointed out, “And Peridot. If we’re allies, there isn’t any reason I should be the exception.”

 

“I haven’t called any of you other Crystal Gems by name, either,” Jasper said, and Pearl tsked. Still, the quartz cracked a smile, crooked and lopsided. “Does it bother you, _wife_?”

 

“Obviously,” Pearl said, pulling forward the last of Jasper’s hair to complete her task. Despite the snags and tangles, her hair was remarkably soft. Smoother than Amethyst’s. Pearl ran her fingers through the finished bits and briefly envied that most quartzes could—and often did—get away with wearing their hair long. Very few pearls did.

 

With bladed weapons, it wasn’t much of an option, anyway.

 

Jasper said nothing. It was fun, she thought, to pick on her bride. Her reactions were the only enjoyable thing about this accursed planet thus far, and that was saying something. Save the exhilaration of fighting Alexandrite, nothing she had seen here ignited anything in her—Steven wasn’t Rose Quartz. The Fusion was using a cheap trick, even if it made her a good opponent. The amethyst wasn’t even worth a second glance.

 

But her wife… Pearl, she was something else. She was strangely welcoming, and of the Crystal Gems, she probably had the most reason not to be. Thousands of years ago, they could have clashed on the battlefield. In fact, there was no doubt in Jasper’s mind that she must have torn down some of Pearl’s companions, just as Pearl had taken out members of her battalion. The terrifying renegade should have been the last Gem alive to offer her softness or comfort.

 

And here they were.

 

With Pearl brushing her hair until not a single knot or snag remained, smoothing tension out of her with every stroke of the brush. Jasper wondered how inappropriate it would be to tell her to continue, or if that were Pearl’s plan all along; if this was the type of thing pearls did regularly, Jasper almost wished she’d had one sooner.

 

She sighed, leaning into Pearl’s brushing without meaning to. “We should spar,” Jasper said abruptly, and Pearl’s hands stilled in her hair. The quartz shook her head. “Not this second. But if Rose Quartz isn’t an option, I’d like to test myself against you.”

 

Jasper didn’t need to look to know that Pearl would blush at the inferred compliment.

 

“I’m not as good as she was.”

 

“I’ll take my chances… Pearl.”


	6. Boundaries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper has some interesting notions about how boundaries work.

Jasper allowed herself to indulge in Pearl’s kindness longer than was necessary, and Pearl said nothing when she realized that the quartz’s hair was perfectly taken care of. It wasn’t long before Jasper allowed her to move behind her, dragging the brush through silken locks with long, practiced strokes. Soon enough, Pearl was brushing for the sake of something to do with her hands, while Jasper leaned into it, eventually turning her gaze to the sky.

 

They didn’t speak much. Pearl’s hands eventually grew tired, even as she alternated which held the brush, and the alabaster Gem finally spoke up, risking the comfortable atmosphere between them.

 

“Do you want me to plait it?” she asked, “It would keep it from tangling and getting in the way if you want to climb again.”

 

“The wind on this planet is annoying,” Jasper admitted, peering over her shoulder at the Gem behind her, who was dragging dainty fingers through her long hair. She was reluctant to let her stop but had a sneaking suspicion that a certain infuriating Fusion would come ruin their time together sooner or later. Her lips pursed in a frown. “I’ve never tried a braid. Never thought it would suit me. Too fancy.”

 

Pearl met her gaze, startled by the raw honesty in Jasper’s voice. “Really?” she asked, “I think it would… not necessarily a _complex_ braid, not like emeralds wear, but just enough to keep your hair out of your way.”

 

Jasper considered it. She would deny it if asked, but she was absolutely enjoying Pearl toying with her hair, and braiding it could always lead to more brushing. “I won’t promise to wear it for long,” she said, feigning disinterest. “If it looks stupid, I’m never letting you touch my hair again.”

 

It was an empty threat. Pearl smiled a little, rising up on her knees to reach the top layer of Jasper’s hair. “Then it’s a good thing for you that I know how to do this,” she said teasingly, setting aside the brush as she began her task. Jasper hummed softly, a low rumble escaping her throat appreciatively as Pearl’s fingers dragged along her skull. She was certainly talented, and Jasper wondered whether the amethyst got this kind of treatment often.

 

The idea burned a little in her abdomen. Jasper scowled, despite the wonderful feeling of Pearl’s fingers in her hair as she started to weave locks together, starting at the crown of her head and drawing in more hair as she worked her way down.

 

“Do you do this with all of them?” she asked, and she wished that burning hadn’t turned to bitterness on her tongue before she could tamper it.

 

Pearl didn’t know what to say to that. “Garnet and the others?” she asked, perplexed and stalling. Jasper nodded, offering an affirmative grunt. She couldn’t see Pearl shake her head, but the smaller Gem continued her work without pause. “Not really. Amethyst is the only one with hair long enough. Garnet used to wear her hair straight, but it wasn’t ever so long. And Rose’s was too…” Too perfect, too flawless, too many things that would give Jasper an opening to mock her to the end of her days. It was bad enough that the quartz had made jabs at the possibility of a relationship between them earlier. Pearl shook her head somewhat longingly. “Too curly. I couldn’t work with it much even if I had wanted to.”

 

Jasper grinned broadly, catching the pause in her voice. “You’re into quartzes,” she surmised, and when color exploded across Pearl’s face, visible even in the semi-darkness, Jasper howled with laughter. “I’m right! You are!”

 

“ _Jasper_!” Pearl spluttered uselessly, floundering as the bigger Gem turned toward her, grinning like a Cheshire cat and with eyes that glittered in the moonlight, nearly aglow with her mirth.

 

“I knew it!” Jasper went on, slapping her thigh, “ _That’s_ why you saved me!”

 

“It is _not_ —“

 

“I knew there was an angle!”

 

“ _Jasper_!” Pearl clenched her hair in shaking hands, blushing so vibrantly that she was sure she would combust. “There’s no angle!”

 

Jasper’s laughter was winding down, finally, and she tipped her head back into Pearl’s grasp, surprised by the electric current that went straight to her Gem at Pearl’s tugging. “Pull harder,” she purred, “Feels nice.”

 

The request had the opposite effect; Pearl released her hold as if scalded. “I’m not—Jasper!” she spluttered, “I can’t believe you!”

 

“You’re so easily scandalized, wife,” Jasper feigned nonchalance, looking back at Pearl with a grin that hid her disappointment. “Are you telling me you didn’t have a tryst with Rose Quartz?”

 

“Th-that’s not relevant! This has nothing to do with Rose!”

 

Jasper paused in her teasing, instead reaching out to catch Pearl’s face, easily cupping her cheek and chin in hand. Pearl’s breath hitched, and she looked up into bright eyes, suddenly serious and drawing alarmingly closer to her face.

 

“I’m not jealous,” Jasper said sternly, stroking her thumb over the curve of Pearl’s cheekbone. The smaller Gem swallowed hard. Jasper’s face was uncomfortably close to hers, and she couldn’t begin to fathom why that made her heart race. Jasper continued, voice a low rumble that shook Pearl to the core. “But I’ll tell you now, I’m not Rose Quartz. Don’t mistake us.”

 

Pearl stared for several long seconds; jaw slack in Jasper’s palm while she tried to process her sudden declaration. “Eh? Hu-uh?” Pearl stuttered around her embarrassment, “Why would I—Jasper, that’s obvious! This isn’t romantic!”

 

“I’m making sure you know that,” Jasper insisted, “I don’t want a misunderstanding. We’re not going there. This isn’t an Earth marriage.”

 

The smaller Gem had just enough room to nod at that, voice choked around the argument that they were on Earth and that they’d already deviated from tradition. Pearls couldn’t marry, and perhaps more importantly, courtship was out of the question. She had never been confused on that point.

 

That Jasper could never be Rose Quartz went without saying.

 

Still, a cold wind whipped at her, cut her deeper than the summer night should have allowed, and Pearl dropped her gaze as Jasper’s hand came away from her cheek. Some part of her missed the warmth already, and the rest cursed the uncomfortable knot in her gut, the longing for more contact that came from too many years without. Pearl wondered whether Garnet would be free later, to try to help her sort through the tangled net of feelings that tried to smother her, but doubted Jasper would let her out of her sight long enough to have a real conversation with her best friend.

 

Jasper watched her deflate, felt dissatisfaction growing heavy in her own gut, but was resolute in her decision. Boundaries created order, and this planet needed it more than most asteroid systems. The wind caught her freshly brushed hair, and she dragged it away from her face.

 

Comfort might have been the appropriate thing for another Gem to offer, Jasper thought, but that was as foreign as this mud ball’s traditions to a quartz soldier. She recognized guilt, recognized the shift in mood, but couldn’t begin to guess what to do with these changes. It was frustrating at best, and maddening at worst.

 

The quartz huffed, glancing down at the ground and catching sight of the silver handle of Pearl’s brush, gleaming in the moonlight. An idea came to her.

 

“I’ll brush your hair,” Jasper decided, carefully taking the brush in hand.

 

“You don’t have to,” Pearl managed, startled by the offer. “I don’t have much to brush and—“

 

“Shift it longer, then,” Jasper said, easily settling a massive hand on Pearl’s narrow shoulder and indicating for her to turn. Pearl did so, shifting and feeling as if her body was made of wood. Even Jasper noticed that she didn’t move with her usual grace, and the quartz frowned. “I upset you. That wasn’t my intent.”

 

“It’s your right to set boundaries. We both should,” Pearl muttered dully, closing her eyes for a moment and willing magic to change her form, even just slightly. Altering her hair was easy, but she was long out of practice; it wasn’t a skill she needed much on Earth. Her Gem glowed, and soon enough, soft waves of pink locks tumbled down her back, stopping short of her narrow waist.

 

Jasper said nothing, looking from the brush to Pearl’s hair. The decision had been easy to come to; implementing it, however…

 

“Start from the bottom, right?” she asked uncertainly, ignoring Pearl’s words.

 

Pearl drew in a breath, expecting the worst when Jasper gathered up her hair in her large hands. “Yes. You draw the brush down, but it’s better to start in sections from the bottom.”

 

“Got it.”

 

To Pearl’s immense surprise, Jasper was careful not to tug her backwards by her hair, and she didn’t actually need much further instruction. The brush glided easily through Pearl’s hair, and Jasper fumbled a little with the smallness of the tool in her big hands. It was definitely intended for someone with smaller fingers, and she wondered whether it had been intended for Pearl specifically. The tool was intricately designed, cast in polished sterling silver, with a longhaired woman curling around the back, hair cascading around the rest of the brush’s surface, down to a flowing skirt that twisted around the handle. Curly hair obscured the woman’s forehead, and Jasper imagined, for a moment, what Pearl might look like in such an elaborately useless dress.

 

It wasn’t an unpleasant mental image.

 

Pearl’s hair hadn’t had the opportunity to tangle the way Jasper’s did, but hers was far finer, and the wind was no help. Jasper soon had her wife leaning into every stroke of the brush, down from the crown of her head and past her shoulders, and she was privately pleased with the results.

 

“Long hair suits you,” Jasper said at length.

 

“It’s a liability,” Pearl said quietly, “Against monsters.”

 

“Never stopped me,” Jasper replied, trying in vain to smooth down a swish of pink hair that insisted on sticking up at the back of Pearl’s head.

 

“You quartzes can use your hair for a weapon. Pearls can’t harden theirs,” Pearl explained, “I’ve seen Amethyst cut a crab’s claw off with her hair alone—mine just gets in the way. I used to wear it long, to fit in among humans, but it’s impractical. I use a spear now, but I used swords before.”

 

Jasper grinned at the idea. “I still can’t imagine it,” she admitted, leaning a little to catch Pearl’s bangs, drawing the soft bristles of the brush almost agonizingly close to her Gem. Pearl closed her eyes with a sigh, and Jasper privately congratulated herself on her work. “I believe you. I may even believe the legends _about_ you. But it isn’t easy to picture.”

 

Pearl said nothing for a long moment. It wasn’t untrue; she sometimes had a hard time reconciling the Gem she’d been during the war with who she was now. But then, she’d been a different Gem on Homeworld, too. She supposed that was what truly made her defective by Homeworld’s standards; pearls were meant to be stationary, static, like statues that ghosted behind their mistresses without a word. She had never been that. Rose had never asked that of her, and she was glad of it.

 

The Gem she was now, however, was better than she had been a year ago, and certainly better than who she’d been before that. Even if she’d gone soft following Rose’s death and Steven’s birth, she was stronger. More content. She wondered if she would have survived the war like this, without the recklessness of her youth.

 

“I’ll have to show you when we spar,” Pearl said, breaking their shared silence. She looked back at Jasper and surprised herself by smiling easily at her wife. Even more surprising was the way Jasper smiled back, and for a moment, the boundary she’d set didn’t matter.

 

“I look forward to it.”


	7. Something Woven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the other Crystal Gems discuss Pearl's marriage behind her back.

Amethyst was not pleased.

 

Garnet’s explanation was predictably lacking in crucial details—the biggest question being _why_ , of course—but the little quartz had spent much of the day ruminating in her displeasure. Garnet tried to explain that it was a way of meeting Jasper in the middle, of guaranteeing that she wouldn’t become a problem in the near future—and moreover, that despite what Jasper thought, it wasn’t binding here anyway—but none of this was satisfactory. Amethyst wanted more answers than Garnet could give even if she’d wanted to, even after Garnet had explained her cursory understanding of the tradition.

 

“So we’re just doing what _Jasper_ wants? P has no say?” Amethyst wasn’t quiet in her lamenting, and Garnet had long given up on expecting Steven to sleep through it all. The boy was at the top of the stairs to his lofted bedroom, watching the exchange somewhat worriedly. Amethyst waved her hands wildly as she ranted, working out extra energy as she paced around. “That sure sounds great! Just wonderful! What’s next, Jasper gets to sleep in the Temple? _And you okayed this_?”

 

“Jasper is not sleeping in the Temple,” Garnet said gently, leaning against the kitchen counter with feigned nonchalance as Amethyst ranted and raved.

 

“She can sleep on my couch,” Steven offered helpfully, but Amethyst ignored him.

 

“Did fighting Malachite rattle you that bad, G? Seriously!”

 

Garnet heaved a sigh, reaching beneath her visor to pinch the bridge of her nose. Without Pearl or Jasper present, Amethyst was having no trouble voicing her displeasure, but it was only a matter of time before the other two returned from outside. “Jasper agreed to a truce if Pearl followed the tradition,” she said, not for the first time. “Pearl made the call. What do you want me to say, Amethyst?”

 

“Uh! How about _no_?” Amethyst whirled around, staring at Garnet as if that were the most obvious thing in the world. “Jeeze, Garnet, even Greg and Rose weren’t—“

 

“This isn’t an Earth marriage,” Garnet cut her off, “It’s just the same word. Calm down, Amethyst.”

 

“I don’t have to be calm! I’m pissed!”

 

“ _Language_ …”

 

“No! No way, don’t ‘language’ me! I’m not a kid, and neither is Steven!”

 

“Guys, don’t fight…” Steven protested, brows furrowed in worry, hands raised in a gesture of appeal. “Come on, maybe it’ll work out! The important thing is we don’t have to fight right now, isn’t it? If it works out that Pearl and Jasper like each other, it’s not so bad… It could be a good thing!”

 

Amethyst snorted, crossing her arms. “I still can’t believe Garnet’s just letting Pearl slip away—“

 

“Drop it,” Garnet grit out, and Amethyst recognized the finality in her tone. She shut her mouth with an audible clack of teeth, turning away in a huff.

 

The silence that followed was deafening, and Steven shifted uncomfortably where he sat at the top of the stairs. Amethyst’s cheeks were a blotchy purple, still flushed from her earlier frustration, and Garnet looked like she’d eaten something sour. He wondered what Amethyst had meant, but knew better than to bring it up immediately.

 

“I’m gonna go eat something,” Amethyst declared finally, storming off to her room. The Temple door opened for her, and she disappeared inside without waiting for a response from either of her companions.

 

“Garnet?” Steven asked, “Are you…” he caught himself, then shook his head. It was better to wait. “Is it gonna be okay?”

 

The Fusion was silent, turning to mount the stairs and joining Steven where he sat. The boy looked up at her worriedly, unable to read her expression, but her shoulders weren’t quite squared, and she slumped when she sank down next to him. “Garnet?”

 

“Would you feel better if I stayed with you tonight, Steven?” Garnet asked, deliberately dodging his question. “Especially with Jasper in the house.”

 

“I think so,” Steven said, shrugging a little. “She’s scary, but I’m not… scared right now. I’m not that worried. Maybe a little bit. I’m more worried about you guys.”

 

“Most quartzes are Gems of their word. Especially old ones like Jasper,” Garnet was visibly reluctant to admit it, but she quirked a smile, ruffling Steven’s unruly hair with one hand. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

 

Garnet wasn’t surprised when Steven caught her hand, but she was surprised that he held it for several moments without speaking. There were futures that tickled the back of her third eye, and Garnet pushed them away. Being in the moment with Steven was far better than intercepting his questions, better for his growth. Still, his silence was unusual. The Fusion almost spoke first.

 

“What Amethyst said,” Steven started, and Garnet froze, but let him continue. Steven stared down at her hand in his, absently running his thumb over her glove. “It sounded like… I don’t know, like she thinks you like Pearl? Is it going to…” the boy faltered, “ _Do_ you like Pearl?”

 

It wasn’t a good save, and Garnet had a feeling she knew where this conversation was going even without looking. Still, she managed a faint smile. “She’s my best friend,” Garnet dodged the question easily enough, but in a lower voice, added; “Like Connie is yours.”

 

That was a yes, then, Steven thought. He’d long had a crush on Connie, and the other Crystal Gems—sans Peridot—certainly knew it. Garnet had probably known before any of them knew the girl’s name.

 

“But she’s marrying Jasper,” Steven said quietly, peering up at Garnet. The Fusion swore her charge could see through her visor; he met her open eyes perfectly. “Are you gonna be okay?”

 

“Me, or Pearl and me?” Garnet asked, using her free hand to gather Steven closer. He scooted into her side, curling up to sit with the bigger Gem, pressed close. His smallness didn’t seem right, but Garnet supposed that it never did. Steven was so like Rose, so much larger than his tiny frame could contain, and yet… Garnet couldn’t imagine the boy any other way. He was perfect. Even as he sat and gnawed at his bottom lip in thought, feeling guilty for the curiosity that came from loving the Gems around him. Finally, Steven spoke up.

 

“Both?”

 

“If… when they decide what type of marriage it is, Pearl and I will still be the way we’ve always been,” Garnet said slowly, closing her eyes in thought. “Jasper can’t change how I feel about Pearl. Just like she can’t change how you feel. And Pearl won’t leave us.”

 

“I know she won’t, but… does Pearl know?” Steven asked worriedly, “I mean, about how you feel. It matters.”

 

Garnet was silent for a moment, considered whether answering was wise at all. In the end, she couldn’t very well deny Steven anything, though, and she sighed. “It does and doesn’t,” she said finally, “Pearl and I have never… seen eye to eye on some things. And things are getting better now. But it hasn’t ever been the right time, Steven.”

 

“But—“

 

“That doesn’t mean Pearl doesn’t know,” Garnet said soothingly, “Or even that I wouldn’t tell her someday. But there’s nothing we can do about it now. And…” her voice dropped, and Steven was certain that her frown was deeper than usual. “…With Jasper in the mix, it’s entirely possible that the time will never come. I won’t put Pearl in a position to choose between us if she and Jasper develop something.”

 

Steven pressed his face into Garnet’s side, muffling a noise of displeasure at the idea. “I guess I just don’t like it,” he muttered, “Maybe… maybe Jasper’s nicer than she seems. But she’s scary. Even Peridot doesn’t like her, and they were on the same side. And with Lapis, too… It just makes me feel funny. I don’t want anything to happen to Pearl.”

 

Garnet said nothing for several moments, then turned to lean down to press an affectionate kiss into her ward’s curly hair. “You care a lot about all of us, Steven, and that’s very good,” she said slowly, smiling for his peace of mind more than anything else. “But you don’t have to worry. I’m confident things will work out well. Pearl can handle herself if Jasper gets unruly, and she has us for backup.”

 

Finally satisfied—at least for the time being—Steven nodded, hugging Garnet a little more tightly. “That’s true,” he conceded, “We’re a family.”

 

“The Crystal Gems’ve always been family,” Garnet said, “And that means Jasper can either join it or deal with it. None of us’re going anywhere.”

 

Steven smiled up at her, then nodded decisively. “Maybe she’ll come around,” he said, always the optimist. “Then everyone could be happy… I think?” he sounded uncertain, and Garnet instinctively rubbed his shoulder soothingly. “Would you be okay if Pearl and Jasper were…?”

 

He trailed off, and Garnet knew that her frown didn’t help him, but she couldn’t keep it from her lips. “I’ll be happy as long as Pearl’s happy,” she murmured, “Though I don’t know how happy she’ll _be_ with Jasper for a wife. It’s going to be weird for all of us.”

 

Before the boy could reply, Garnet scooped him up, standing easily, as if his mass were nothing at all—and to a Fusion, really, it wasn’t. Steven was light and easily manhandled. “Now get ready for bed,” she said, setting him down carefully at the top of the stairs. “I’ll pull out some blankets for me, and I’ll sleep by you tonight.”

 

Steven laughed easily, slipping past the Crystal Gems’ leader to go wash up in the bathroom. Garnet set about gathering his spare comforter and pillows from the closet, not that she needed either, but the illusion was as important as anything else. She had no intention of actually sleeping.

 

In her willfulness to avoid looking into Steven’s future, she hadn’t thought to worry about Pearl and Jasper’s return; the door swung open with a creak of poorly fixed hinges that were on their last legs, and Garnet immediately made her way to the edge of the loft.

 

“You’re back,” she said flatly, surprised to see that Pearl had her hair midway down her back, loosely plaited. It wasn’t often that her best friend wore her hair long—or did any kind of shape shifting—but perhaps more surprising was the fact that Jasper’s hair was in a similar braid, though far neater. Behind her visor, Garnet hiked an eyebrow critically, knowing Pearl couldn’t see the questioning look. “I see you found something to keep yourselves busy.”

 

“Oh! Garnet, you’re still up,” Pearl sounded surprised, but she smiled easily, and missed the dark look Jasper gave her best friend. Garnet ignored it, instead moving downstairs to inspect the pale peach braid. It wasn’t the best; tufts stuck out, and the part was uneven, and the Fusion was surprised that Pearl hadn’t yet fixed it herself. “I was teaching Jasper to braid.”

 

“I see.”

 

It was Jasper’s turn to flush, and she nearly opened her mouth to protest—so what if she’d learned something from Pearl, and so what if it was useless on the battlefield—when Steven appeared from the bathroom, ready for bed.

 

“You guys’re back!” Steven said, glancing first at Jasper, and then to Pearl. His eyes went wide. “Pearl! Your hair’s so pretty!”

 

Abandoning caution, he made a beeline for the knight, ignoring Jasper altogether. The soldier wasn’t sure whether to be pleased by that. Steven hugged her, blathering on about how good her hair looked, how he’d never seen it long, and Garnet agreed that it was nice—which, really, was a more positive reaction than Jasper expected the abomination to offer to her work.

 

Pearl’s cheeks were flushed, but she smiled, gave Jasper credit for the decision to plait it to one side, and Jasper looked away, cheeks flushing when the little quartz hybrid turned his praise on her as well. Everything about this was strange and uncomfortable. 

 

But her wife did look good with the plait.


	8. Jealousy in Purple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pearl and Amethyst talk about change, and Amethyst's dislike of Jasper.

Much to Steven and Jasper’s combined disappointment, Pearl promised that her hair would be back to normal tomorrow, and Garnet told them it was for the best. There was a mission looming—one that Jasper was welcome to join them on, which the quartz soldier didn’t very successfully feign disinterest in—and Pearl assured Steven that someday he could play with her hair if he really wanted to. Filled with a dozen ideas of what he would like to try with her hair (buns! Braids! Maybe curls! Plastic clips with flowers on them!) it was nearly impossible to put Steven to bed, but the day had been long, and he was tired enough from traveling around the tri-state area with Lapis that he eventually relented.

 

Garnet announced that she would be staying up in his room with him, unless Jasper and Pearl wanted her for anything. Then, somewhat abruptly, she added, before they could protest; “Pearl, you may want to check on Amethyst. I think she needs to hear that you’re okay from _you_.”

 

It was the type of cryptic order Garnet sometimes gave, and Pearl nodded, rising from the couch. “I’ll be right back, then,” she said, and Jasper gave her a sharp look. Pearl shook her head. “No, no—Jasper, I’ll be fine inside the Temple. Just… stay out here with Garnet?”

 

“As if,” Jasper grumbled, and Garnet snorted. “What, _Fusion_?”

 

“You’ll have to get used to me,” Garnet said, drawing herself up to stare almost evenly at the quartz soldier. The orange Gem bristled, hair visibly poofing outward as if an electrical current had run through her. Garnet grinned. “I’m not going anywhere.”

 

“I’ll be right back,” Pearl cut in, voice soft and placating. “It won’t take long at all. I’m sure Amethyst will kick me out of her room in just a few minutes. If you really want to, Jasper, you’re welcome to go outside and climb the cliff again. Just be careful; it’s only going to get more slippery as the fog comes in.”

 

Jasper didn’t look happy, but she nodded slowly, settling back down on the couch and ignoring the way it tried to sag under her weight. She folded her arms over her chest with a scowl, and Pearl floundered for a moment.

 

But there was nothing else to say, nothing she could promise to placate her wife, and Pearl settled for giving Steven a quick goodnight kiss on the forehead before shooing him upstairs. Garnet mussed her bangs affectionately before she followed the boy, and Jasper refused to look at her as she turned toward her, mid-step and already on the way to the Temple door.

 

Her Gem could only open the door to her room from the outside, but Amethyst’s room was the easiest to reach. Pearl slipped down a waterfall with practiced ease, enjoying the ride much more than she’d ever acknowledge aloud; the way physics did—and often didn’t—work inside the Temple still mystified the Crystal Gems, though the three of them had many millennia to get accustomed to the place. Chutes and twists of water ignored gravity in favor of an elaborate cascade that Pearl barely managed to leap free from before she found herself neck-deep in one of the pools in Amethyst’s room.

 

Pearl landed neatly at the water’s edge, and to her immeasurable surprise, Amethyst wasn’t actually far off, sitting up high on a pile of who-knew-what. Her door wasn’t nearby; Pearl wondered if Amethyst had been waiting for her.

 

“Amethyst?”

 

Thick shoulders hunched at the sound of her name, a clear indication that she’d heard her. Amethyst didn’t turn.

 

“G sent you.”

 

It wasn’t a question, but Pearl nodded all the same. Amethyst huffed, clamoring down from her pile, but she refused to look at her friend’s face. Dark eyes settled on her braid, and Pearl didn’t realize that Amethyst could frown so deeply.

 

“You did that with Jasper?” she asked, stung, and Pearl’s eyebrows knit together in confusion.

 

“I… well, yes,” Pearl said awkwardly, uncertainly, hands instinctively flying to her braid. It was easy to fiddle with—a nervous tic that she normally reserved for her sash—and Amethyst’s lips curled back in an angry sneer, but she said nothing. “Amethyst, what on Earth’s gotten into you? It’s not a big deal, you and I used to—“

 

“Yeah! _We_ used to!” Amethyst snapped, throwing her hands up in the air. “And you know what, we _don’t_ now, but I guess it’s just _fine_! Jasper’s automatically one of the family now that you’re married, I _guess_!”

 

The alabaster Gem stepped back, feeling her cheeks flush in embarrassment. “Amethyst…” she whispered, voice choked, bewildered but hurt. Amethyst’s tone burned in her ears and chest.

 

“G wants to act like it’s no big deal, but you know what? It is, Pearl. What’re you gonna do, start _dating_ too? Leave us behind just like Rose—“

 

“Amethyst!” Pearl grabbed the smaller Gem’s shoulders, crouching to meet her eyes. “Amethyst, _none_ of that will happen. This is just… just part of a truce. I’m trying to meet her half way. Jasper and I aren’t like that. It’s entirely political.”

 

The beginnings of tears stung Amethyst’s eyes, and she stood stock still, staring at Pearl for several seconds before shrugging her hands away. “It’s not political,” she muttered, “It’s not gonna be. You think I don’t know how this stuff turns out? You’re going to play at it until it’s real, and…”

 

Whatever she finished with was mumbled so quietly that Pearl couldn’t catch it, but she didn’t think she needed to. The pink-haired Gem tugged Amethyst forward, met with little resistance, and hugged her tightly. “I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered, “You don’t have to worry about that.”

 

Amethyst didn’t return the embrace immediately, but when she did, it was with enough strength to drive the air out of Pearl’s lungs. Pearl squawked without dignity, and Amethyst couldn’t help smiling into her chest, despite her sour mood. “I don’t like it,” she said at length, finally giving Pearl room to breathe, drawing back to look up at her. The hardness in Amethyst’s eyes was startling, and Pearl pushed her bangs away from her face. “I don’t like Jasper. I don’t think I’m gonna. I don’t trust her, or want her to hurt you, or any—I hate this!” Amethyst pressed her face against the star on Pearl’s uniform. “Hair was _our_ thing,” she muttered, and Pearl laughed a little despite herself.

 

“Just because Jasper did my hair doesn’t mean hair isn’t our ‘thing’,” Pearl admonished gently, “You haven’t asked in _ages_ , for one thing. I had no idea you would still let me.”

 

Amethyst was quiet for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Maybe I’m just jealous,” she admitted quietly, and Pearl smoothed her fingers through her hair soothingly, expertly avoiding tangles. “I mean, not like… you know. Romantic-jealous. But jeeze, P, it’s a shock, you know? Isn’t marriage a big deal?”

 

“Of course it is,” Pearl said softly, worrying the inside of her cheek in thought. “I’m not _happy_ about it, Amethyst. Jasper’s been nice enough, but I never exactly pictured myself in this situation.”

 

“Just ‘cause you saved her, right?” Amethyst paused, then managed a grin. “You’ve saved me a bunch of times. I’m a quartz.”

 

Pearl laughed, covering her mouth when a snort bubbled out, and she tugged Amethyst into a tight embrace. “Don’t go telling Jasper that; she’ll be furious that we didn’t teach you the laws,” she sighed, though she wasn’t so sure that the orange Gem would have expected that of them. “Besides, by all accounts, I should’ve been married to Rose… If all quartzes followed that sort of thing. I did save her a few times.”

 

And wouldn’t that have been wonderful? For all that they had been involved romantically, there had never been a satisfactory name for it. Not one they hadn’t borrowed from humans, anyway. Pearl sighed into Amethyst’s hair, closed her eyes against thoughts of what could never be, and finally withdrew—or tried to; Amethyst’s arms were locked around her middle, and as unusual as it was, Pearl didn’t object.

 

“You’re really gonna stick to it, though?” Amethyst asked, “Aren’t you, y’know, still in love with Rose and stuff?”

 

Color suffused Pearl’s cheeks at that, and she looked away. “It’s different, Amethyst. And Jasper’s made it very clear that she has no interest in it turning romantic. It’s strictly business,” she murmured. Amethyst wondered if there were longing in her voice, or if she had imagined it. She suspected the latter. One day wasn’t enough to change the memory of what Jasper had done.

 

She wanted to ask about Garnet, about Pearl’s incredibly transparent feelings for their current leader, but the little purple Gem didn’t think she could ask without spilling the beans about Garnet’s feelings—and that was something she was fairly certain she would never live through.

 

Whatever it was, the dynamic of their family was bound to change over this, and Amethyst already disliked it. She didn’t want a bigger quartz running around. A ‘Gemetically perfect’ one, as Peridot might have called her. Jasper seemed to be exactly the type of Gem Peridot described when she’d asked about what she should have been, what a _quartz_ should have been.

 

Amethyst resented that, even knowing that it wasn’t fair to their new teammate. She found she didn’t care much for fairness where Jasper was concerned. It was hard to care about being fair when Jasper insisted on using a weapon that destroyed Gems in an instant, or when she’d beaten Steven up, or when she’d tried to drag them off to Homeworld for certain death.

 

No, Amethyst didn’t think she would like Jasper anytime soon.

 

“Do you like her?” Amethyst asked abruptly, and Pearl froze under her scrutiny before managing a faint shrug. “Words, P. I’m gonna need words for this one.”

 

Pearl heaved a sigh, chewing the inside of her cheek in thought. Silence stretched uncomfortably between them, and Pearl finally sighed. “I don’t know. She isn’t terrible. She’s a bit like you, when she isn’t spewing Homeworld’s propaganda,” she admitted, “I could learn to like her. We’re going to spar soon, and I know I’ll enjoy that. And it’s nice having someone who remembers what Homeworld was like before Rose and I left—we talked a little about that. She’s very honest. I think with time, you two will be terrorizing the rest of us. Quartzes are known for their senses of humor, and you two certainly share some of that.”

 

Amethyst scowled. “So quartzes are all the same? Is that how it’s supposed to be?”

 

Pearl caught the bitterness in her tone and smoothed her hair. “Amethyst, it isn’t bad to break the mould,” she said, quirking a smile. “Not here on Earth. Not as a Crystal Gem. You’re not like Homeworld’s amethysts. You’re entirely your own Gem. That’s one of the things we love about you. That’s what makes you _you_.”

 

Somehow, that reassurance was exactly what Amethyst needed to hear. She gave Pearl a final squeeze, finally withdrawing and sweeping her hair back into its usual style, covering one eye out of habit. “Alright,” she said, “I guess as long as you’re okay… we’re fine, right? All of us.”

 

“We should be,” Pearl said soothingly, tucking a stray lock of her too long hair behind one ear, but the fringe fell back to tickle the curve of her jaw. “I don’t think Jasper means any harm, and we Crystal Gems can handle her.”

 

“She’s not gonna join, is she?” Amethyst asked, raising a critical eyebrow. “I mean, is she still loyal to Homeworld?”

 

“We’ll see,” Pearl said, shrugging lightly. “I certainly can’t see the future, and I don’t know her well at all. It’s only been a day.”

 

Amethyst nodded, satisfied at last. Then with a playful grin, she turned Pearl and pushed her toward the door. “Alright, now get outta my room.”


	9. Flicker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jasper does pushups and Homeworld's state of affairs makes for an awkward conversation.

Pearl emerged from the Temple to find that someone—more than likely Jasper—had taken the liberty of relocating the living room table to sit against the kitchen counter, leaving ample room for the couch cushions to be splayed on the ground, like some kind of makeshift yoga mat… which Jasper was presently using to do one-handed pushups on. Her braid was swept over one impressive shoulder, pooling beneath her. The result was a perfect view of her hindquarters and legs, and Pearl knew better than to let her gaze linger.

 

Still, it was impressive; Garnet occasionally did work out as well, but it was mostly for Steven’s benefit. They would do exercises together in the morning, and Pearl sometimes watched from the deck. Garnet could lift several times her weight with ease, but she and Steven would do exercises to music, weights in hand, and Garnet never progressed more than one size beyond Steven’s comfort zone. It was endearing and sweet, and one of the many things she loved and envied about her best friend. Pearl never knew how much to scale back, or how little. It made training Steven and Connie incredibly difficult, especially given how fragile the children were.

 

Jasper, however…

 

Jasper was hard muscle under very little softness, and Pearl couldn’t help envying that, for entirely different reasons. She pushed herself off of the makeshift mat with practiced ease, lowering herself until her Gem nearly touched the pillow before pushing back up again, her left hand fisted in the small of her back, muscular arm tucked close to her torso. Her balance was perfect. Jasper was a completely different kind of beautiful, bathed in silver moonlight from the ceiling windows, and Pearl realized too late that she’d stared far too long and that the air in her lungs had gone stale.

 

Noticing this brought on a fit of hapless coughing that startled Jasper out of her routine, and she rolled over, sitting bolt upright to see her wife, now blue faced with embarrassment, standing awkwardly between the warp and the living room.

 

“Sorry, sorry,” Pearl managed between coughs, trying to muffle the sound with her hands for Steven’s sake.

 

“Were you watching?” Jasper was grinning already, and it was abundantly clear that she knew the answer from the distinct wash of color on Pearl’s cheeks. Then, in a low rumble, she asked; “Did you like it?”

 

“ _Jasper_!” Pearl hissed, looking up toward the loft frantically. But her coughing fit subsided.

 

“The Fusion said he was asleep before I started,” Jasper said, shrugging her plaited hair back over her shoulder. Pearl relaxed somewhat, and moved to join her, sitting down with her long legs carefully folded at her side.

 

The smaller Gem nodded, clearing her throat. “I was… admiring you. A bit,” she admitted, deliberately looking away. “I’ve never… That is, I _can_ do pushups. But I never learned to do them one-handed. Most of my strength is in my arms, but my balance is in my legs.”

 

Jasper nodded vaguely, and Pearl caught sight of it out of the corner of her eye.

 

“It’s not easy,” Jasper said, “To learn, I mean. Obviously, it’s easy for me.”

 

“Oh, _obviously_ ,” Pearl couldn’t help smiling a little at the unwavering confidence behind Jasper’s words. Quartzes were often full of themselves, big-mouthed and with big muscles to back it up, but it was… nice. The contrast between Jasper and Amethyst was impossible to miss. “A big hulking soldier like you couldn’t possibly find her workout difficult.”

 

“Well, it’s about endurance, not _straining_ ,” Jasper scoffed, rolling her eyes as if this were the single most basic concept any Gem had ever conceived. “One pushup is nothing. One thousand takes real strength. Consistency. Yellow Diamond values that, you know.” She paused, “I suppose that doesn’t matter now, though.”

 

Jasper wasn’t wrong about that, Pearl thought with a faint sigh, and she was silent for several long seconds, unsure of what to say. She worried her bottom lip, then absently reached up to fiddle with the end of her braid.

 

“It’s not a bad thing,” she said finally, “Holding on to some Homeworld values. We all… well, I suppose now it’s mostly me, but Peridot as well. Every Gem is a product of the ground she’s formed in.”

 

The quartz was silent for several minutes longer than Pearl had been. Gold eyes flicked up to the loft, and when she did speak, Jasper’s voice was a low rumble that resembled a whisper. “They formed me in this system,” she admitted, lips curling in distaste. She couldn’t even boast that she’d been created in Homeworld’s closer Kindergartens, or a major system. “I was one of the first batches of the Amalthea Kindergartens, orbiting Jupiter. My squadron trained there.”

 

This made Pearl’s eyes go wide, and she stared openly at the bigger Gem. “The Amalthea Kindergartens were only operational for a few thousand years,” she said quietly, “I mean—I never saw them. I didn’t exactly leave Homeworld often. But Jasper, you’re…” she paused, unsure of a tactful way to put it. Truly, there wasn’t one. “You’re probably the oldest quartz I’ve ever met.”

 

“Probably,” Jasper said with a grin, “Makes me older than you, doesn’t it? If you were made for Rose Quartz.”

 

“Oh,” Pearl flushed, looking away, flushing somewhat. “No… Rose was much older. She was formed somewhere in the Perseus galaxy cluster.”

 

“You’re lying,” Jasper leaned forward, suddenly very interested. _This_ was the sort of gossip she wanted to hear. “There hasn’t been an operational Kindergarten in Perseus since the start of the first age. They don’t mine quartzes there.”

 

Pearl shrugged one shoulder. “I obviously wasn’t around for that,” she pointed out, “They had me made for Rose. Because of her rank in the Pink Court. My sisters went on to serve under the General and Magistrate. I was only a few thousand years old before we… left for Earth.”

 

Jasper chuckled darkly. “Left is one way to put it,” she said, nudging Pearl so hard that the slighter Gem nearly toppled sideways. “It’s forbidden to talk about, but you still hear whispers sometimes. Hard to get better gossip than the dismantling of a Diamond’s court. There used to be bets going ‘round that it’d happen again, but of course, that’s so treasonous—Yellow Diamond shattered entire batches of Gems for that kind of thing. Didn’t matter what rank. Emeralds, tanzanites—on down to pearls and pyrites. They didn’t even see the Magistrate for trial.”

 

“Stars…” Pearl whispered breathlessly, covering her mouth. “I can’t believe it got so bad. Every caste was affected?”

 

“That’s what revolution does,” Jasper sounded unfazed, almost disinterested. She paused, watching the shaky way Pearl’s throat moved when she swallowed, and tilted her head slightly. “You actually _care_?” The question was incredulous and had more bite in it than Jasper intended.

 

“Of course!” Pearl snapped, then, lowering her voice just in case, added; “I didn’t leave sisters and friends behind and just _stop caring_ , Jasper. Just because I picked Earth over Homeworld doesn’t mean I hated the Gems there. Or even some of the practices. I was made there, everything I was for centuries _was_ Homeworld.” She blinked rapidly against the sting of tears in her eyes, biting her lower lip before turning away, scrubbing at the wetness in her eyes with the back of her palm. Jasper stared, taken aback by her tears. She had forgotten how easily pearls cried—it was common knowledge that these lower Gems hadn’t had it drilled out of them, but…

 

“H-hey,” Jasper floundered, big hands awkwardly hovering between them. She didn’t know what to do. Other Gems didn’t cry, not in front of a seasoned quartz. Quartzes didn’t show that kind of weakness. Jasper wondered when the last time she had seen a Gem cry was and came up short.

 

It had to have been during the war, or shortly after. There were members of her squadron who’d cried over their losses. That was acceptable. This…

 

When Jasper’s big hand settled on her shoulder, Pearl stiffened, then drew in a shuddering breath. “Sorry,” she managed a smile, a strained quirk of her thin lips, and Jasper wondered how many of her wife’s smiles were forced like this one. It didn’t meet her glassy blue eyes. It didn’t hold a shard to the way she’d been smiling earlier. Somehow, it made the orange Gem’s gut twist more than her tears.

 

“No need,” Jasper said gruffly, “You don’t have to pretend… I mean, that smile’s terrible. Don’t force yourself.”

 

“Pearls are supposed to smile,” Pearl’s voice was soft, and Jasper didn’t miss the bitter undertone. “Smile and look pretty. It’s hard to break the habit.”

 

“You already look pretty, you don’t need to give a piss-poor smile when you’re upset,” Jasper scoffed, withdrawing her hand from Pearl’s slim shoulder. “I didn’t think talking about that… It wasn’t all bad,” she said quickly, covering the beginnings of an apology that didn’t taste right on her tongue. “There were good policies that got put in place. Everything’s streamlined. The Magistrate and Yellow Diamond picked up the pieces well. White Diamond took in the remains of the Pink Court. A lot’s changed, but the second age is going well so far.” She paused, uncomfortable with the prospect of offering Pearl—an enemy—details about Homeworld, even knowing that there was no going back, that she was a marked traitor regardless. Jasper heaved a sigh. Even so, she wanted to help her wife feel better, and that want was new and confusing.

 

“I hope that brings you some comfort.”

 

Pearl was quiet, and then, at length, reached for Jasper’s hand, giving a light squeeze. “It does,” she said, curling long fingers around the edge of the quartz’s much bigger palm. The action was startling, and Jasper nearly pulled away, but changed her mind at the last second. She let Pearl settle her hand into hers, and they were both silent, content with silence that lasted long into the night.

 

“I need to finish my routine,” Jasper said hours later, slowly extracting her hand from Pearl’s too comfortable grip. The lithe Gem’s fingertips brushed the inside of her palm, and Jasper swore she felt some kind of current travel up to her Gem—but that made no sense, not when pearls didn’t have any voltage to speak of. There were rumors that Yellow Diamond’s personal pearl had been augmented with something like that, but her wife was a far cry from a Diamond’s personal plaything. Rose Quartz may have served Pink Diamond, but she was still a quartz.

 

Pearl nodded in affirmation, pushing herself upright. “I should too,” she said, adding; “Start, I mean. Especially if there’s a mission coming up tomorrow. And we still have to spar, somewhere in there.”

 

“Is there room in this absurdly small base of yours?” Jasper asked, raising an eyebrow, and Pearl shook her head, smiling wryly. That was better than before. Not perfect, but not forced.

 

“I figured I would go to my room for it,” Pearl explained, “It would give you more space. I won’t be long, I’m sure it won’t last past sunrise.”

 

Jasper nodded faintly, standing as well to follow Pearl as far as the Temple door. The quartz paused, then leaned down a little to muss Pearl’s hair as she had seen Garnet do. Sure enough, it drew color to the pallor of Pearl’s cheeks, a brilliant blue flush that made Jasper grin like a Cheshire cat. “See you in the morning, wife,” she purred, and Pearl made a quiet noise that sounded like it lodged in her throat, caught around a protest that could just as easily have turned into an uneasy giggle.

 

“Good night, Jasper,” Pearl said in a somewhat strangled voice, turning toward the door and opening it easily with her Gem’s magic. “See you in the morning.”


	10. Inedible Concept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper is full of surprises. Pearl invites her to come to town.

Come morning, Pearl was well rested, having had time and space to herself, and was ready to face the strangeness of the day. She had trained much of the night away, alternating between spear and swords, and finally settling into an easy practice routine that lasted until the sun should have been up.

 

Earth’s little quirks often surprised her, despite the eons she’d spent on the planet, and opening her door to find Jasper sitting cross-legged against the wall with her eyes closed was par for the course. Nothing should have surprised her now, she didn’t think, yet here she was—informally married to the enemy. Somehow, Pearl had expected that Jasper would leave in the night.

 

It was strange, seeing her at all, but Pearl had by no means forgotten the previous day’s many trials. Their bonding had been tenuous, but it took the edge off of any apprehension Pearl might have had where Jasper was concerned. The alabaster Gem raised an eyebrow, surprised to see Jasper so unguarded, and she crept forward silently to inspect her wife.

 

Less than a foot was left between them when one of Jasper’s bright golden eyes peeked open, and the bigger Gem grinned. “Good morning,” she purred.

 

“Were you sleeping?” Pearl asked, genuinely curious and quick to recover from her surprise. Amethyst had learned the practice on Earth, and Gems by no means needed it, but she could think of no other reason that Jasper’s guard would be down.

 

“Meditating,” Jasper said simply, stretching her arms over her head. “I felt your door open. Figured it’d be you, wife. That magic’s awfully flashy.”

 

“Oh.” Pearl flushed a little. Meditation was something she hadn’t ever considered a quartz soldier might partake in—not that sleeping was more common. Both practices were things she had learned on Earth. “Amethyst hasn’t come out yet, has she?”

 

“You’re the first,” Jasper replied, pushing herself to her feet to look down her Gem at Pearl appraisingly. She’d returned her hair to its usual style, just as Jasper had undone her own braid. Still, the change from their time together the night before lingered between them. “The Fusion and—Steven?—left earlier, after sunrise. What are donuts?”

 

Despite herself, Pearl chuckled a little. Of course Steven would immediately go to the Big Donut after so long away from his favorite restaurant in town. Still, actually having to explain one of Beach City’s least healthy foods short of Steven’s favorite “fry bits” put an uneasy taste on her tongue. “They’re saccharine baked goods. Deep fried dough covered in sugar and sprinkles. Steven loves the—Are you _laughing_?“

 

Jasper was, indeed, only this time she was trying to smother her snickers behind a hand. “Your _face_!” she cackled finally, giving into her amusement with the sort of reckless abandon that quartzes were known for. “Your nose wrinkles!”

 

“I—what—“ Pearl spluttered, blue creeping into her complexion for the umpteenth time. “W-what about it?!”

 

“You look like you ate something terrible! Like it’s still wriggling!” Jasper howled between fits of laughter, “Oh—these humans, they can’t even get _food_ right, can they? What a face!”

 

“Are you saying _you_ eat?” Pearl asked, desperately trying to change topics even as color burned its way up to the tips of her ears and crept down her neck.

 

“What quartz _hasn’t_?” Jasper snickered, laughter winding down somewhat, and her grin spread so widely across her face that Pearl nearly blanched. Jasper was a little intimidating, even when she was having harmless fun at her wife’s expense. She looked like a predator getting ready to dine. The big quartz leaned in. “Don’t tell me you never learned? After all these years on Earth?”

 

Pearl had learned. She’d eaten more in her lifetime than she wanted to ever think about—often to humor Rose Quartz, sometimes at Steven’s behest. She had a working, if simplified, digestive tract in her current humanoid form. Still, she frowned deeply. “Of course I learned—Is it really a quartz thing? Amethyst insists on it too. I think it’s awful.”

 

“ _Such_ a palace Gem,” Jasper teased, but she was grinning, and Pearl couldn’t very easily ignore the sparkling mirth in her eyes. It was enchanting. She wondered how Jasper could smile so easily after everything she’d been through with Lapis, but knew not to bring it up. She would take smiling and laughing at her expense—to a point—if it meant Jasper’s mood was consistently pleasant. Unaware, Jasper went on; “Tasting things is great. Especially if it gives you extra energy. I once ate a live trog, and—“

 

“ _And I’m sure it was wonderful_!” Pearl shrilled, covering her ears with her hands. The idea of eating something _live_ made her proverbial skin crawl. All color had drained from her face by now, and Jasper regarded her curiously, but had the good grace not to continue. Pearl peeked up at her sheepishly, thoroughly embarrassed around the nausea that settled into her gut. “I—sorry. Sorry. Jasper, eating just… really, truly makes me sick. I don’t know how anyone can do it.”

 

Pearl was certain the soldier would mock her for it. How pathetic, she thought. It had never occurred to Pearl that other Gems might enjoy eating the way Amethyst did—Garnet rarely ate at all, and treated it as a novelty. Rose Quartz had consumed all sorts of strange human concoctions, eager to experience everything in the world at least once, and that had simply seemed so _Rose_ that Pearl never questioned it.

 

Was she really the odd one?

 

Jasper was silent for several moments; then shrugged her massive shoulders, reaching to muss Pearl’s hair in an awkward attempt to reassure her bride. “That’s fair,” she said, cracking a crooked smile. “More for me. You say your amethyst eats things, too?”

 

“Mostly garbage,” Pearl conceded, peeking up at her with wide eyes, surprised by her kindness. “Sometimes food, expired or otherwise. Steven needs it, of course, since he’s half organic. You… you don’t mind?” her voice was smaller than she meant it to be. Jasper looked incredulous for a moment.

 

“Why would I _mind_? It’s your loss,” she said, crossing her arms. “If you don’t like food, it’s not my problem. Like I said, more for me.”

 

“Amethyst teases me about it,” Pearl admitted, coughing delicately. She started to move toward the living room, where couch cushions were still strewn about on the floor. It looked like, for all of her surprises, she was just as unkempt as Amethyst. Pearl set about gathering up the cushions to replace them on the couch without another word, and Jasper watched her.

 

It was strange, the massive quartz thought, that Pearl could be so very pearl-like despite being very obviously defective. Not that it was a bad thing. She almost smiled at the thought. Pearls back home hadn’t held her interest, hadn’t been engaging or funny, or particularly striking, even if they were pretty to look at. They were decorative; they ghosted about after their mistresses without a word. They were very little more than shadows.

 

Her wife was different. She was lippy and loud, and impulsive, used weapons, argued incessantly against authority figures, spoke without instruction, and did things on her own. She didn’t seem to need orders, even if she did respond to them somewhat. Pearl moved like she had her own sense of purpose, her own ideas and drive, independent of her place as a pearl. She didn’t have—or evidently need—an owner to take care of her every little need. To hold her hand or keep water lukewarm. She was the stuff of legends for a reason, and it was becoming harder to miss. The little pale Gem was special. Different.

 

Defective.

 

Jasper thought that the defectiveness was an improvement.

 

She wondered if that thought was traitorous.

 

It didn’t take Pearl long to tidy up. Cushions were easily replaced, with the zippers facing the wall, and small hands took to rearranging some of the adjacent shelf before Pearl could catch herself. It was compulsive, and so very, very easy to slip back into when she was nervous. The feeling of Jasper’s gaze boring into her put her on edge.

 

Not that it was unpleasant. Pearl didn’t think Jasper meant anything by it, or even necessarily knew how sharp her gaze was. But it still put her hair on end, made her stand straighter.

 

“Do you want to go to town to join them?” Pearl asked daringly, finally stopping herself before she rearranged the entire shelf out of reflex. She turned to look up at Jasper, who had closed some of the distance between them to reclaim the table she had shoved aside the night before. The bigger Gem had the piece of furniture in hand and was casually inspecting it, turning it in her hands as if it weighed nothing at all. Pearl reached up to catch the edge of the table, easing it down, and Jasper was willing enough to lower it with her.

 

Jasper considered, and the frown her lips pursed into was so pronounced that Pearl was certain she would reject the notion.

 

The silence was agonizing, despite lasting only a handful of moments, and Jasper finally nodded slowly. “Why not? Your base is too small, anyway. I’ll go mad if I stick around here.”

 

“You’ve only seen Steven’s room,” Pearl pointed out reflexively, and Jasper shrugged.

 

“You won’t let me in to see the rest, right?” Jasper challenged, drawing herself up with a cocky grin, adding; “Even though we’re _married_.”

 

“It’s not safe, for starters—even I haven’t explored the entire Temple,” Pearl protested, feeling her cheeks color at the jab. At least it seemed good-hearted. “And my room wouldn’t interest you, anyway, I’m sure. It’s just water basins.”

 

“Water? Ugh,” Jasper’s lip curled in distaste, and she moved to clap her hand on Pearl’s back, making the smaller Gem jump. “You’d be right about that. I never want to see water again.”

 

Pearl couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled to her lips, and she covered her mouth. “You’ll be disappointed, then,” she said, “We _do_ live on a beach.”

 

Jasper rolled her eyes, stepping past Pearl toward the door, too small to slip through without angling herself somewhat. “This stupid blue planet has too much water on it,” she grumbled, waiting just past the threshold for Pearl to join her. The smaller Gem hesitated for a moment, then nodded, slipping out the broken door carefully and motioning for Jasper to follow her.

 

“We’ll be going inland, at least,” she offered helpfully, and Jasper nodded, gazing past her wife to take in the coastline. Months ago, she might have enjoyed it, might have appreciated the exotic beauty of a raw planet like this. Water-covered planets were a rarity in space; certainly in the Home Galaxy, they didn’t have many. Sand was different everywhere, but Beach City’s was fine and sparkled beautifully in the morning sunlight.

 

Now it made her gut twist, and she absently reached to push fists full of her hair away from her eyes, tearing her gaze away from the water in favor of looking at Pearl.

 

Pretty blue eyes matched the sky where the sunrise ended, round and deceptively harmless-looking. Pearl met her eyes easily, all smallness and bony limbs, with a sweet face and downy soft hair that moved just so in the salty morning breeze. Yes, Jasper decided, she would much prefer to look at Pearl.

 

“Lead the way,” she said gruffly, following Pearl down the stairs. They creaked and groaned under her weight, and Pearl absently hurried her way down the path to the sand. Jasper paused, but briefly, before setting her boot in the sand.

 

Pearl briefly considered offering an alternative, that they could perhaps go back up to the lighthouse, but Jasper was already setting her sights on Beach City, and Pearl had to rush to keep an even pace with the bigger Gem’s long strides.

 


	11. Sweet Rivalry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Pearl and Jasper meet Garnet and Steven in town.

It was with a mysterious half smile that Garnet recommended that Steven buy extra donuts that morning—a full dozen, in several flavors—and Steven had scarcely brought enough money to pay for it. Garnet suggested simply taking the entire case with her usual straight face and monotone voice, and neither Steven nor Sadie could tell whether she was joking.

 

“Do I… need to ask your friend to leave?” Sadie asked awkwardly, and Garnet shrugged.

 

“It was just a suggestion.”

 

“Right…”

 

Steven shot the poor girl an apologetic look, laughing awkwardly to fill the uncomfortable silence. “Garnet’s just kidding,” he assured her. Garnet didn’t have the heart to tell him that she wasn’t. “We’ll just take the dozen and get out of your hair, Sadie.”

 

“Thanks, Steven,” Sadie said, handing over the box of donuts as Steven slid his money across the counter.

 

“See you later, Sadie!”

 

Garnet followed Steven without another word, nodding her goodbyes to the human girl as she ducked on her way out the door. Steven hummed merrily, and Garnet plucked the pink box of donuts from his hands as they walked, taking the long way back across Beach City toward the Temple.

 

“Did you want some, Garnet?” Steven asked, eyes wide. “I almost never see you eat!”

 

“I might eat one,” she replied noncommittally, “But I know someone else who will want a few, and I don’t want you feeling bad for not having enough for her.”

 

Confusion writ itself across Steven’s round face, and he wondered who Garnet could possibly mean. “Amethyst?” he asked reflexively. Pearl was out of the question, of course.

 

“Mm, Amethyst will eat some,” Garnet agreed, “But I was thinkin’ of our new housemate.”

 

“ _Jasper_?” Steven gasped, surprised and delighted by the suggestion. “She likes donuts?”

 

“It’s a likely possibility,” Garnet said, absently adjusting her visor. “We’ll find out right about… now.”

 

Steven knew he shouldn’t be surprised by now, but he was startled to see Jasper and Pearl appear around the street corner when the Fusion spoke. “How do you _do_ that?” he gasped, dashing ahead to meet Pearl with a hug. Garnet chuckled quietly, eyeing the way Jasper tensed at the boy’s sudden arrival. At least she had the presence of mind not to attack him and ask questions later—not that Pearl’s arms around the boy’s shoulders gave her much room to do so.

 

“Jasper. Pearl,” Garnet said smoothly, nodding to each in turn. “Didn’t think you’d come to town on your second day.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jasper growled, hackles already rising at Garnet’s greeting. The Fusion’s very existence put her on edge, and she made no effort to hide it.

 

“Peridot still hasn’t come to the city,” Garnet said with a shrug, shifting her focus to Pearl. “’Course, it’s been longer for her. Were you going to the Big Donut?”

 

Pearl smiled, drawing away from Steven just slightly, letting her hand linger in his unruly curls. “We were. Jasper wanted to try some,” she replied, eyeing the box in Garnet’s hand. “But it looks like you’ve beaten us to it, as usual, Garnet.”

 

“How?” Jasper demanded. “How could she possibly know where we were going?”

 

“Garnet has future vision!” Steven said proudly, puffing up in his excitement. “We got a whole dozen so you could try some, too! But the one with the star sprinkles is mine.”

 

Jasper turned her hard stare on Steven instead, and he shrank back just slightly. Then she quirked a brow, deliberately making an effort to soften her expression, and asked; “Star sprinkles?”

 

Steven’s smile was back with a vengeance, and Jasper heard Pearl sigh faintly at her side, apparently relieved. She didn’t listen very intently to Steven’s explanation of what ‘star sprinkles’ were, or why they were delicious; it sounded like a gimmick, rather than an actual supplement to the food itself. It didn’t even _move_.

 

Steven quickly went on to explain several other varieties of donuts, and Jasper half listened, although she had plainly lost interest midway through. Pearl eventually put a hand to the boy’s back, turning him toward Garnet with a light chuckle. “I think she’ll get the idea when we get home, Steven,” she said softly, looking up at Garnet. “Were you two heading to Greg’s first?”

 

“No, just taking the scenic route,” Garnet said, “But we did get enough donuts for Greg, too.”

 

“We got a dozen!”

 

Pearl blanched a little at the amount of sugar and saturated fat that Steven couldn’t possibly need in his diet. “I hope you’ll ration them,” she said, and Jasper snickered.

 

“There’re enough of us,” Jasper said, “Not counting you, wife, there should be enough to go around. Does the Fusion eat?”

 

“Garnet,” Pearl corrected her automatically, earning a scowl. Pearl didn’t flinch under her wife’s gaze, however, instead meeting her evenly. “Her name is Garnet. It’s not hard to remember.”

 

Jasper growled low in her throat. The Fusion didn’t deserve a name, didn’t need one when she already had two—but she could see the fight in Pearl’s eyes, the readiness to defend the Fusion with everything she had—and Jasper had a feeling that Pearl wasn’t above playing dirty. “Fine,” she hissed, folding her arms and looking away. “Whatever. Fusion, Garnet, it doesn’t matter to me.”

 

“I’m also standing right here,” Garnet pointed out wryly, “But yes, I do eat, sometimes. And for that attitude, I’m eatin’ the only maple donut.”

 

“What?!” Jasper snapped, barring her teeth in a snarl, and Steven instinctively stepped between them.

 

“Guys, please,” Steven begged, “Don’t fight!”

 

“It’s what you get for being rude.”

 

“You do deserve that,” Pearl sighed, placing a gentle, placating hand on Jasper’s arm. Her wife pulled away with a huff as if scalded, glowering instead at Garnet with unrelenting intensity. The smaller Gem shook her head. “But if you really want a maple donut, we can pick one up. Unless you two got the last?”

 

“There’re more,” Garnet assured her, ignoring Jasper’s burning glare in favor of smiling down at her best friend. Pearl visibly relaxed at Garnet’s reassurances, and the Fusion wasn’t entirely surprised. Pearl put so much stock in her best friend’s words that it was sometimes painful. Her heart could scarcely take the way Pearl looked at her. She smiled. “We didn’t get the entire case.”

 

She should have, Garnet thought, even if it would have meant upsetting Steven and possibly getting him banned from the Big Donut. Still, the idea of denying Jasper a donut she might not even like—on principle alone—was tempting.

 

Plus, Garnet couldn’t help being a little jealous of how close Jasper had gotten to Pearl in only a day’s time. She wondered and promptly regretted wondering as her future vision helpfully supplied possibilities where her suspicions were confirmed; where Jasper quickly fell for her best friend, and worse yet, where Pearl returned her feelings.

 

She didn’t want to quantify those odds.

 

“We’ll meet you two at home,” Garnet said abruptly. She adjusted her shades, set a hand on Steven’s arm and steered him toward the sidewalk again. “C’mon, Steven, Greg will want one of the glazed ones, and I know Amethyst will be awake by the time we get home.”

 

“Oh! Yeah! We better get going!” Steven nodded agreeably, turning to wave to Pearl and Jasper as he walked and let Garnet guide him from behind. “We’ll see you guys later!”

 

“Be careful walking home!” Pearl called, returning the gesture, waving after the two as they turned the corner she and Jasper had just come around. She sighed, letting her hand drop to her side for a moment before folding her arms somewhat defensively. Something about Garnet’s abrupt departure didn’t sit well with her, left her feeling hollow and empty. Instinct told her to follow her, but Pearl knew that wasn’t an option. It was better to keep Garnet and Jasper apart as much as possible, at least for now.

 

“I wish you two wouldn’t clash like that,” Pearl murmured, earning a startled look from her wife.

 

“Why would _we_ get along?” Jasper asked, hiking an eyebrow at her. “She didn’t save me. I don’t owe her anything! As far as I’m concerned, she’s my enemy. I’m only _tolerating_ her for your sake.”

 

Pearl frowned deeply, brows furrowing. “How is it a truce if you consider _any_ of us an enemy?”

 

“I’m not fighting her,” Jasper pointed out, and Pearl sighed. It was still fighting if they were arguing at each other’s throats. She didn’t think pointing that out would help much, though, and wisely kept silent. “What, that isn’t satisfactory?”

 

“No, it’s—“ Pearl started, then sighed, looking away. “I understand why you might not like her, given your… history. I do. And I’m sure your experiences with Fusion don’t help, but—“

 

“But what?” Jasper asked sharply, catching Pearl’s shoulder and turning her to face her. “If you understand that much, what stipulation could you _possibly_ think could change my mind?”

 

It was Jasper’s turn to frown when Pearl wouldn’t answer; wouldn’t meet her gaze. She caught her by the chin, turning her face toward hers. Finally, Pearl looked her in the eye. When she spoke, Jasper’s voice was a low rumble that resonated deep in her chest, made Pearl’s sternum reverberate. “Why should I give her even a glance, Pearl?”

 

Pearl felt her heart sink, knowing full well that the answer was selfish. “She’s my best friend,” she murmured finally, “That’s all. I don’t have a better reason than that, Jasper. You and I get along well, and I just hoped… since we’ll be living together…”

 

“We fought and she threw me into a plasma engine, Pearl,” Jasper said slowly, releasing her face. “She disgraced me. Blew up my ship. If it weren’t for her, I never would have been trapped by Lapis on this miserable planet. I never would have been that _abomination_.” The quartz soldier straightened, drew herself up to her full height, folding her arms over her sizeable chest. “I have no interest in making friends with her.”

 

The alabaster Gem was silent for a long moment before she heaved a sigh, once again averting her eyes. “Alright,” she whispered, and nervous fingers found the edge of her sash for a moment before she realized what she was doing. She released the ribbon, balling her hands briefly before exhaling and praying that the tension left with the stale air she’d held too long in her lungs. “That’s fair, Jasper. I can’t force you. And I do appreciate you not fighting her outright. That… that means a lot.”

 

Golden eyes regarded her with unconcealed curiosity, and Jasper exhaled as well. “I’ll refer to her as ‘Garnet’ from now on,” she conceded, extending her hand for the smaller Gem, palm up as an invitation. “Is that fair?”

 

The move surprised her, and Pearl stared for a moment, then hesitantly slipped her hand into Jasper’s palm. Bigger fingers curled around hers, completely enveloping her hand and wrist, but Jasper gave the softest squeeze she could manage, and Pearl squeezed back.

 

“It is,” Pearl conceded, mustering up a smile. “Let’s get you that maple bar, shall we?”

 

Jasper nodded, unsure of what the difference was between a maple donut and a maple bar, but wholly prepared to find out. She smiled back, though it was soured slightly by thoughts of the Fusion, and she tugged Pearl closer while they walked.

 

It bothered her more than she wanted to admit that Garnet was Pearl’s ‘best friend’—that she was her best- _anything_ put a bitter taste in her mouth, one she hoped Earth’s food would help bury. Jasper was a competitive Gem by nature, and though it made sense, logically, that Pearl would consider one of her longest-surviving comrades from the war her closest friend, she couldn’t help wanting that title for herself.

 

After all, they were married; Pearl shouldn’t need a best friend other than her wife.

 

It wouldn’t be long before she showed her.


	12. Dawning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jasper comes to an embarrassing realization, and Pearl is left in the dark.

As it turned out, a ‘maple bar’ was a more appropriately sized snack for someone like Pearl, and Jasper was disappointed at first glance. “This? This is it?” she growled, taking up much of the Big Donut and earning a sideways stare from Mr. Smiley on his way out. Jasper commanded much more space than she actually took up—but being a few heads taller than the patrons and visibly strong enough to crush watermelons between her thighs, if not with her bare hands alone, made her impossible to miss in the small coffee shop. The wide-eyed stare from Sadie wasn’t much better, but Pearl had at least been able to put herself between her wife and the human girl.

 

“Uh… Pearl, is she another Gem? I thought it was just the three of you living with Steven?” Sadie asked awkwardly, using tongs to get Jasper’s donut for her without ever looking away from the orange Gem. It was a feat of dexterity that came from having to eyeball Steven whenever he was in the store; she even selected the one Jasper had picked without looking twice.

 

“Well… there’re six of us now,” Pearl said soothingly, all too happy to neglect to mention where, exactly, the other Gems had come from. Her omission didn’t go without notice, but she smiled for Sadie’s sake, offering a little more money than the donut actually cost—keeping change in her Gem was a nightmare. “Jasper is living with us, but the other two are out in the country. I’m sure Steven will introduce you when they visit.”

 

“Oh. Well, uh, it’s nice to meet you, Jasper,” Sadie said, bagging the maple bar. She earned a noncommittal grunt of acknowledgment in response, but from the flash of unnaturally bright gold eyes that peeked out under wispy white bangs, Sadie didn’t know that she wanted more acknowledgment than that. She shifted her attention instead. “Did you want any, Pearl? Steven and Garnet were just here…”

 

“We saw them. And no—thank you,” Pearl said, shaking her head. “I prefer not to eat.”

 

“Palace Gem,” Jasper snickered, and Sadie wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to be an inside joke or one at Pearl’s expense. The wild-haired Gem crossed her arms briefly, flashing a cocky grin down at her wife. “You didn’t adapt at all.”

 

“I _can_ throw your donut away,” Pearl shot back, turning her attention away from Sadie to focus on Jasper instead. The bigger Gem protested, though mildly, and took Pearl by the hand again on her way out the door. Lars slunk in from the back as they left, and his eyes went comically wide.

 

“Sadie what the heck—?” he demanded, staring after the two Gems as they left, apparently bickering out of earshot.

 

“I think… Pearl has a new girlfriend?” Sadie suggested uncertainly, leaning forward a little to watch as Pearl and Jasper disappeared back down the boardwalk on their way to the beach. Then the blonde paused, whirling on Lars. “Wait. Did you really show up an _hour late_ , Lars?”

 

“What? I was really tired…”

 

“ _Lars_!!”

 

* * *

 

 

Jasper was determined to combine teasing Pearl with walking and—to Pearl’s abject horror—eating, in a very quartz-like display of unnecessary, and messy, multitasking. Pearl cautioned her against eating the bag, and Jasper wondered why it came packaged with something that _felt_ more or less edible in her hands. She finally released Pearl to tear open the bag, retrieving her prize. The maple-glazed bar looked a little squashed, but Jasper paid this no mind as she threw the entire thing into her mouth.

 

That might have been a mistake.

 

She stopped cold mid-step, chewing thoughtfully. It was sticky, and sweet—too sweet, but she was determined to finish it—and the dough was oily. Jasper wondered whether she liked it, despite the excessive sweetness, and found that she didn’t know yet. Neither was she certain that she wanted to find out immediately. She swallowed, pulling a face.

 

“Humans eat these often?”

 

Pearl couldn’t watch her eat, not without feeling queasy at the prospect herself, but she turned to look up at her wife when she spoke. It was a relief to see that she’d finished it properly, at least. “Steven does,” she said, “He likes sweet things.”

 

“You called it ‘saccharine’?”

 

Pearl flushed a little, nodding. Certain that Jasper would ask, she quickly supplied; “It means excessively sweet; too sugary; too—“

 

“I know what it means,” Jasper was amused by her backpedaling, and she paused, licking her fingertips thoughtfully. Pearl’s gaze lingered a moment longer than she would have liked to admit, and she looked away when Jasper caught her staring. Jasper grinned broadly. “It’s a good word for it. Saccharine. You’re smarter than most pearls, aren’t you?”

 

That brought the color flooding back into Pearl’s cheeks all over again, full force. It was a backwards compliment, but a compliment all the same; pearls were decorative first, entertaining second, and most of them were expected to be quiet about it. Rose had never asked that of her, and Pearl was immensely glad of it. “You mean the same way you’re smarter than most jaspers?” she asked, and the bigger Gem laughed.

 

“I like to think I’m smarter than most Gems _period_ ,” Jasper crooned, leaning too close to the smaller Gem’s face with a wide grin, and Pearl rolled her eyes to hide her discomfort at the closeness. “You don’t think so? I’m wounded, wife.”

 

“That kind of cockiness is a liability,” Pearl said, waving her off, “Confidence is all well and good, but in battle there’s always going to be someone stronger, more dangerous—and you can’t let your guard down.”

 

“Smart,” Jasper agreed readily, “That’s why you’re lucky to have a wife like me, isn’t it? If you live up to your legends, the two of us should be unstoppable.”

 

“If?” Pearl laughed, puffing her slight chest out and placing her hands on her hips. “ _If_? Jasper, I’m surprised at you! I can’t believe you’d doubt your own wife.”

 

This brought a wider grin to Jasper’s lips, and she hooked her arm with Pearl’s, tugging her in. “You still have to show me,” she purred, “I’m much more eager to spar with you than to go back to your dingy little base to eat more ‘donuts’ with Steven and—Garnet.”

 

Pearl let out a startled squeak as she was pulled in flush against Jasper’s side, but she was quick to ignore the feeling of butterflies in her stomach that burst to life at the sudden contact. More surprising than Jasper being handsy was that she was true to her word regarding Garnet; the hitch in her voice was impossible to miss, and Pearl almost thanked her for it. But her voice caught, and instead, she shook her head, clearing her throat delicately.

 

“We’ll spar,” she assured her, “I can guarantee that. But the nearest warp _is_ in the Temple, so we’ll still have to stop there first. We might as well go to a proper arena if we’re going to spar. Some still stand from before the war, but they’re in pretty bad shape.”

 

“Fine,” Jasper agreed readily, leaning down to meet Pearl’s gaze, gold against pale blue. “As long as I get a piece of you today, that’s all that matters.”

 

“ _Jasper_!” Pearl flushed all over again, and from her crooked grin, the innuendo hadn’t been accidental.

 

“ _So_ easily scandalized…”

 

If not for Jasper’s far superior strength, Pearl might have pushed her away—but as it was, she was thoroughly trapped at her wife’s side, unable to do much more than flail uselessly. “Jasper! I can’t believe you said that with a straight face,” she huffed, trying to will her flush away. She failed, and sighed instead, averting her gaze. “You can’t just… say things like that. Especially in front of Steven. He’s too young.”

 

“He’s a _quartz_ ,” Jasper objected, raising a curious eyebrow. “What do you mean ‘too _young_ ’? Is it some human culture thing?”

 

“More or less…” Pearl sighed, “Developmentally, he’s not… grown yet, not completely. He’s only fourteen-years-old. He’s still an adolescent by human standards.”

 

Jasper swore under her breath, and Pearl elbowed her in the side reflexively. “He’s barely out of the ground!” Jasper exclaimed, “And he fights? He keeps up with you Gems? Is it because he’s Rose Quartz, or—“

 

“We started training him when his powers manifested,” Pearl cut her off, unwilling to hear more speculation to do with Rose Quartz, even if it was mostly harmless. “But that wasn’t until a few years ago. Physically, he stopped aging earlier.” The alabaster Gem frowned, “He’s made a lot of progress, but it’s barely been three years since he came to live with us.”

 

Jasper was silent for a moment. “Almost feel bad for hitting him now,” she muttered, pushing her hair away from her eyes. Pearl looked up at her, startled, and Jasper went on, absently gesturing with her free hand. “I mean—I legitimately thought he was Rose Quartz. He’s got her Gem. Her shield. But only three years of training, and less than fifteen since he got extracted? Quartzes are still in camp that young!”

 

“I don’t think he’s holding a grudge,” Pearl said gently, “He wouldn’t have bought you donuts if he were upset.”

 

That seemed reasonable, but it didn’t stop Jasper from frowning all the same. “Still feels wrong,” she grumbled.

 

“You’re unexpectedly chivalrous,” Pearl murmured, giving Jasper’s arm a reassuring squeeze. Her wife was surprised to see the little rebel smiling up at her, and despite herself, despite her words to the contrary the night before, Jasper felt her cheeks heat a little at the warmth in Pearl’s smile. Her sweet face was lovely up close, all softness and smooth lines, round eyes and soft lips, and Jasper’s breath caught.

 

She had to look away.

 

“I don’t see what’s surprising about that,” she said gruffly, visibly embarrassed. “Quartzes aren’t all brutes, you know.”

 

“I know you aren’t,” Pearl agreed, almost too readily, and as they reached the steps up to the beach house she finally released Jasper’s arm—and in her embarrassment, the soldier let her go, even though the loss of her touch made something in her chest ache with longing.

 

Jasper didn’t want to think about that. It was unfamiliar and new and altogether _strange_. She had never wanted to touch another Gem softly before, never wanted to indulge in frivolous contact at all—yet somehow, she wanted to touch her wife’s small hands and arms, to revel in the way blue flooded her face when she said something salacious. The idea made her Gem pulse and put heat in her cheeks, and Jasper wasn’t sure if it was weakness.

 

She wasn’t sure about many things.

 

But she followed Pearl up the stairs to the too small beach house, stared at her lithe form as she moved with the grace of one of Blue Diamond’s dancers—like a larimar on the water, or even the Magistrate’s own custom-made powder blue pearl—and she quickly realized that other Gems couldn’t compare, didn’t hold her interest, and likely never would. Pearl was the first in several thousand years to command her interest this way, and it wasn’t just the way her shorts clung to her legs, or the swish of her slim hips, or the way the world brightened and shone when the smaller Gem smiled at her like she was the only other being in the universe.

 

And that scared her as much as it thrilled her. It set her nerve aflame, charged her Gem like a bolt of lightning. The desire to reach out and touch Pearl, to never let another creature—Gem or organic—know her the way she wanted to in that moment was unlike anything Jasper had ever known.

 

But there was no denying it.

 

Jasper only hoped she could _hide_ it.

 

After all, Pearl had agreed to her terms. This wasn’t an Earth marriage.


	13. Churning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper brings up a touchy subject, with unexpectedly chivalrous results. Amethyst remains unpleased.

In a move that surprised no one but Jasper, most of the donuts had been decimated by Amethyst by the time they arrived. There were still four left—each different flavors—and Steven was so quick to apologize that Jasper nearly chastised him. A quartz shouldn’t apologize for someone else’s mistakes—but Pearl seemed to beat her to it, immediately lecturing Amethyst for her rudeness.

 

“What, P, it’s not like you were gonna eat any,” Amethyst pointed out, licking frosting off of her fingers. Somehow, when Amethyst did it, it wasn’t distracting at all—just infuriating. “I left some! You can’t say I didn’t leave her any! Maybe walk faster next time.”

 

“That isn’t the point at all,” Pearl countered, frustrated by the knowledge that Amethyst wasn’t totally wrong. It was a miracle they even still had the box. All things considered, it was actually progress, especially when the purple Gem had made no secrets about her dislike for Jasper the night before.

 

“You can have the rest if you want, Jasper,” Steven piped up, offering the somewhat squished box to the bigger Gem. She recognized it as something of a peace offering—that Steven was trying to ease the tension in the room, and perhaps trying to win her over. The latter wouldn’t necessarily work, of course, but the former was… sweet.

 

Not quite what she would have expected from the legendary Rose Quartz.

 

“I’ll try one,” Jasper said, taking the box without any further preamble. Steven’s eyes lit up as she claimed a chocolate-covered donut, regarding it with suspicion before tossing it easily into her mouth. The big quartz had the decency to wait until she’d finished before speaking, but that decency came from savoring the flavor, this time. It was still oily, but the smooth sauce on top wasn’t nearly as sweet as the ‘maple’ flavor from before. “What kind was that?”

 

Steven grinned, reclaiming the box as it was offered down to him. “Chocolate! It’s really popular here; it comes in a lot of flavors. Did you like it?”

 

The orange Gem considered denying it, but nodded. “Better than the ‘maple’ flavor,” she agreed stiffly, settling her hands on her wide hips, regarding him with unconcealed curiosity. This Steven was small and had very little presence for a Gem, and Jasper still couldn’t fathom why Rose Quartz would choose such a miniscule form. “I don’t suppose your kind eats live game? Or is it all prepared like this?”

 

“Uh…” Steven blanched a little, unsure of how to answer that. The question was delivered with no malice and it didn’t seem like Jasper was trying to make him deliberately uncomfortable. He looked to Garnet. “Most food you cook first, I think. At least, that’s what I eat…”

 

“Little primitive, eating things while they’re still alive,” Garnet said dully, and the look Jasper shot her was anything but friendly. The Fusion shrugged with practiced nonchalance that made Jasper’s face burn. “Just voicing an opinion.”

 

Jasper sneered, wholly prepared to snap back at her with no less than exactly where Garnet could shove her opinion, but Amethyst’s voice caught her attention.

 

“P? P, are you okay?”

 

“Fine!” Pearl squeaked, shaking her head. She looked the color of skim milk—if not a little green underneath—and Jasper’s focus shifted immediately to her wife. “I’m fine! I’ll just leave you to talking about your, er, tastes, and—“

 

“No,” Jasper said, cutting her off. “We’ll drop the subject. You look sick.”

 

With all eyes on her, Pearl couldn’t help flushing from embarrassment. Instinct and little else had her ducking her head to hide it, but there was no doubt in her mind that the others had all noticed. “I’m sorry,” she said stiffly, wringing her hands. “I couldn’t help imagining it, and I just…”

 

“You don’t have to apologize, Pearl,” Garnet cut in, “We should’ve taken it into account. We all know you don’t like to eat.”

 

“Yeah, and live food’s gotta be worse if you can’t even handle normal food,” Amethyst agreed, patting Pearl’s arm sympathetically. Even if she liked the sound of it, the purple Gem could see the distress on Pearl’s face plain as day. Pearl tried to smile, grateful for the reassurance, but knew it didn’t reach her eyes.

 

“It’s fine. Really,” Pearl insisted reflexively, looking up as Jasper stepped close to her. Her wife’s jaw was set, but her expression was unreadable. Pearl’s first instinct was to panic, raising her hands placatingly. “Everyone has different tastes, and—“

 

“I won’t bring it up again if it bothers you,” Jasper said sharply, “But you have to tell me these things. I’m not a mind-reader, Pearl.”

 

Silence hung briefly between them, and Pearl finally nodded. “I will,” she murmured, “I… thank you, Jasper. I’ll tell you.”

 

“Good. Besides, green doesn’t suit you,” Jasper said, allowing herself a lopsided grin that did wonders for Pearl’s anxiety.

 

“Aw, look! Garnet, see? Jasper does care!” Steven exclaimed, pressing his palms to his cheeks. The quartz turned, face flushed, ready to snap at him, to defend her sentimentality toward her wife as a formality—but his expression was nothing if not approving. Wide dark eyes shone with excitement, and he looked like his face could barely contain his smile. “I’m so glad we were so wrong about you!”

 

“What?” Jasper frowned, brows furrowed, plainly lost by the praise. Her frown deepened when Garnet chuckled at her expense.

 

“Told you not to worry, Steven,” Garnet murmured, “Jasper’s a Gem of her word.”

 

A compliment was not what Jasper had expected to hear from the Fusion. It immediately put her on edge. Surely the Crystal Gems’ acting leader had some angle, some reason to praise her after threatening her only a day earlier. “Of course I am,” she growled, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

 

“Uh, ‘cause you were our enemy, like, a day ago?” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “Hell-o, why wouldn’t we be a little suspicious that you turned around so fast?”

 

“Who turned around?” Jasper whirled on her, “I’m not a traitor like you Gems—“

 

“That’s not what she means, Jasper,” Pearl said soothingly, “It just took Peridot longer to… adjust. To being around any of us. That’s all. She stayed locked in Steven’s bathroom for more than a week.”

 

It was hard to believe that the amethyst’s words were anything but barbed, but with assurances coming from Pearl, who had no reason to lie, and whose face wasn’t made for it… Jasper sighed, straightening. “I have more sense than a technician,” she grumbled, “And I’m not going to waste a week locked anywhere. Quartzes don’t sit still long.” She considered asking what, exactly, a bathroom was supposed to be, but deigned against it. Pearl could tell her in private, later on.

 

Some part of her wondered when she had become comfortable enough to consider her wife a confidante. It had set in quickly—too quickly for her liking—but then, so had the strange feelings she was starting to harbor for her wife. Jasper knew herself well enough to recognize that she was falling—and fast—for the rebel Gem, even if she didn’t know what to do with those feelings. They were hard to ignore.

 

 _Pearl_ was hard to ignore.

 

“We were going to spar, weren’t we?” Jasper asked abruptly, turning her attention to her wife, who at least looked much better than she had a few minutes ago. Her wife met her gaze, and Jasper couldn’t ignore the way her insides fluttered when she smiled brightly.

 

“Right! We were!” she said, earning a gasp from Steven. Pearl glanced to the boy with an easy smile. “We were going to go up to the Sky Arena for a quick match.”

 

“Can I come watch?” he asked hopefully, starry-eyed.

 

Jasper shifted uneasily, glancing from the boy to Pearl. It wasn’t that an audience was unwelcome; she would gladly show off her strength to Rose Quartz’s little heir. She frowned. “How far are we taking the fight?” she asked, “Incapacitating the opponent, or destroying her form?”

 

Before Pearl could speak, Garnet cut in. “You’re not poofing each other.”

 

“Poofing,” Jasper repeated, voice flat.

 

“Isn’t that what it’s called?” Steven asked, and Jasper wondered just how sheltered Rose’s descendant was.

 

She didn’t feel like rectifying that, not right now.

 

“Sure,” Jasper said dismissively. “We’ll knock flowers off of each other or something instead. I’m not picky, I just want to get some action.”

 

Pearl’s flush was pronounced, and she coughed delicately. Amethyst was giving her a critical look, one that spoke of her suspicions without a need for words. “I think it might be better if we go it alone this time,” Pearl said, looking to Garnet for permission. “Is that alright? I don’t think we’ll be long.”

 

Garnet didn’t look pleased as she adjusted her visor, weighing potential futures. Few existed where Pearl came back much worse for wear—and it was difficult to find _any_ where Jasper broke her word and destroyed her wife’s physical form. Still, the idea didn’t sit well with her. Jasper was dangerous, and she knew firsthand how the quartz fought; she gave no quarter, left few openings, and might not realize her own strength against a much smaller Gem like Pearl.

 

But then again, the Terrifying Renegade had her title for a reason. With her swords, and even with her spear, Pearl could take down much bigger opponents—and she wasn’t without options in close combat, either.

 

So Garnet wasn’t sure how much of the disagreement in her gut came from jealousy.

 

Neither did she know how to explain it away without having to come clean.

 

“If you’re not back in a few hours, I’ll come to check on you both,” the Fusion said grudgingly, pursing her lips in a frown. The uncomfortable feeling in her belly settled around her breakfast and made her stomach churn. She would much rather go along, to be ready to tag in if Pearl needed her.

 

Really, there were few situations where Garnet wouldn’t prefer to be Pearl’s backup. But she knew that Steven would want to go as well, and adding him and Amethyst to the mix resulted in futures where Pearl was distracted, where Jasper humiliated her in front of her fellow Crystal Gems.

 

She couldn’t do that to Pearl.

 

Pearl smiled reassuringly, clasping her hands. “I’m sure we’ll be back before it gets late,” she said, looking up at Jasper. “We’re only going a few rounds, right?”

 

“Until you’re too tired, yeah,” Jasper agreed, cocking a grin. “I want to fight you at your best, wife.”

 

“That sounds like it’ll be one round, then,” Pearl laughed, moving toward the warp pad. “You quartzes are built with more stamina than my kind, but I should have a few hours in me, if you can keep up.”

 

The disappointment on Steven’s face was evident, but he waved them off all the same. “I’ll watch next time!” he declared, and to his surprise, Jasper turned to grin down at him from the warp pad.

 

“We’ll be sure to give you a good show,” Jasper assured him, clamping a hand on Pearl’s shoulder so roughly that she nearly buckled under the sudden weight. Pearl’s knees didn’t give, but her own smile faltered, just briefly, before she waved her goodbyes and activated the warp.

 

In a flash of brilliant blue light, they were gone, leaving the three remaining Crystal Gems behind. Amethyst immediately turned to Garnet, frowning deeply. “P’s not in danger, right?” she asked, skipping all preamble. “I can’t believe you’d just let her and Jasper go off alone—“

 

“Pearl’s not in any danger, Amethyst,” Garnet said reluctantly, gritting her teeth. “She has a good chance of winning one-on-one, and better odds if we’re not there to distract her. They’re just going to spar. I wouldn’t have said yes if Pearl were at risk.”

 

“Tch,” Amethyst grumbled, unable to counterpoint. “Doesn’t mean I haveta like it.”

 

She had no idea how vehemently Garnet agreed.


	14. Brawl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper and Pearl finally get to spar, but not for long.

As always, Pearl couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed by the sight of the Sky Arena. The midmorning sun glinted merrily off of the dilapidated Diamond insignia, and Pearl could feel Jasper’s gaze on her as her eyes briefly traveled up to the broken remains of Pink Diamond’s part of the symbol. Behind her, Jasper’s focus was on the yellow diamond, torn between saluting and whether doing so was blasphemous.

 

She decided against it. Pearl led the way to what had once been a grand auditorium, where the Diamonds would have held audiences. Jasper knew the schematics from her research, knew that there were pillars missing and an entire wall of seating that had crumbled to the ages.

 

It didn’t look like Her Diamond’s aesthetic, and Jasper wondered whether Pink Diamond or the Magistrate had orchestrated this place’s construction. She supposed it didn’t matter, not when the arena was falling apart around them.

 

“It’s safe to fight up here?” she asked, eyeing the edge of the precipice.

 

“This is where Steven and Connie train with me. If we’re careful, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” Pearl said airily, twisting a hand, fingers splayed, to disperse the thin veil of cloud cover that dusted pink marble stones.

 

“Connie?” Jasper asked, frowning. “A human?”

 

“She’s quite good with a sword,” Pearl explained, deliberating before summoning her spear with a practiced flourish. Jasper watched with interest, wondered briefly at the fantastic nature of her weapon. It was perfect; delicate, feminine, but clearly balanced and made for Pearl’s small hands alone. The star at the base of the handle hardly surprised her, but it was the sort of useless touch that she could appreciate. Pearl continued, absently twirling her spear to reacquaint her hands with the motions. “A very fast learner, and a good partner for Steven. They’re close in age.”

 

“I see,” Jasper murmured. “You really do it all, don’t you? You pearls shouldn’t be able to make weapons. Or anything else.”

 

“I _am_ an old model,” Pearl admitted with a shrug, alternating the shaft to her left hand to loosen the muscles there next. “Nacre made me and my sisters a long, long time ago. I’m sure newer pearls have more restrictions.” And she hoped she hadn’t had a hand in that. From Jasper’s faint nod, she suspected that she might.

 

Jasper regarded her for several moments, watched Pearl as she stretched and readied herself for their match. An appraising glance confirmed for her that, without the weapon in her hands, Pearl wouldn’t likely have much strength against her; their size differences were too great. “I’m going to use my hands,” she decided.

 

Pearl looked startled. “You can use your helmet. I don’t mind. It isn’t fair if only one of us has a weapon, is it?”

 

“I’m not going to bash your pretty face in,” Jasper replied, “I’d crack your Gem. Or worse. My hands will be enough.”

 

There was some truth to that, Pearl thought. She had very little doubt that Jasper could poof her with as little effort as it had taken for Garnet to destroy Peridot’s form several weeks prior; her hands could easily span even the broadest part of her body.

 

Thinking about _that_ made her shiver a little, and not entirely out of fear.

 

“If you’re sure,” Pearl said, licking her lips and managing a grin. “We’ll fight until the other is pinned? Since we don’t have any flowers.”

 

Jasper matched her grin, reaching to ruffle her hair. “Pretty sure I know how this’ll turn out, though, Pearl.”

 

The smaller Gem smiled wryly, ducking under the quartz’s hand and sashaying away from her, flourishing her spear overhead. “I warned you about being cocky earlier,” Pearl replied with a laugh.

 

Jasper watched her, matched her crouch, and barred her teeth. “Ready?”

 

Pearl tipped her head in a nod. “Let us begin.”

 

Whatever she had expected from the Terrifying Renegade, it wasn’t a frontal assault. Pearl moved like lightning, and Jasper scarcely caught her spear with time to blink, grabbing the shaft with scant inches to spare. She instinctively flung the blade end away from her face, swinging Pearl to her left in so doing. Pearl went flying, rolled back into a crouch, and came again at Jasper without missing a beat.

 

This time Jasper was ready for her; she snatched the spear from Pearl’s hands, snapping the shaft; it exploded in a brilliant flurry of light motes, to Jasper’s surprise. The hulking Gem stumbled back, and while she tried to refocus her eyes, Pearl swept her legs out from under her.

 

Jasper let out a snarl of surprise, and she grabbed blindly for the smaller Gem mid-fall, catching her elbow—but Pearl was mid-roll and slipped out of her grip. She dove out of range when Jasper lunged for her next, summoned another spear, struck the ground beneath her with its blade, and used it to launch herself over the quartz’s head, arching neatly out of reach.

 

“Impressive,” Jasper growled, grinning, “But you won’t beat me by dodging me forever.”

 

“She says, on the defensive!” Pearl quipped, flashing a smile that was too sweet. Jasper circled like a shark, giving Pearl time to draw another spear.

 

“You want offense?” Jasper roared, lunging almost too quickly for Pearl to dodge her. It was a near miss. Her claws scantly snagged into Pearl’s tunic, ripping through the fabric like it was tissue paper.

 

There was no way that had been accidental.

 

Pearl yelped, covering her chest, and Jasper tucked into a roll, barreling toward her in a flurry of hair that nearly glowed in the sunlight. Pearl shifted her focus as she dove away again, mindful of the edge of the arena. “Jasper, be careful!” she shouted, dashing in away from the pillar that Jasper had nearly backed her into. The bigger Gem rolled forward with a roar of laughter, and Pearl fired several warning shots from her spear to keep her at bay.

 

This Jasper hadn’t expected, and without her helmet, she took a blast to the face and lost her momentum. Trajectory changed, she lost her formation, spiraling into the stands in a heap.

 

It took precious moments for her to clear her vision, in time to see Pearl flying at her. The smaller Gem landed in a kneel, over her chest, one foot in her hair, the pole of her spear pressed against Jasper’s throat so quickly that she didn’t have time to react.

 

It was hard to breathe; Jasper’s chest was heaving, but Pearl’s slight weight wasn’t enough to impede her breathing, even if the shaft of a spear bearing down on her windpipe certainly was.

 

Pearl was no better; out of breath, holding the spear tightly against Jasper’s throat. “Yield?” she asked sweetly, and Jasper reached up, tried to catch hold of her opponent, earning a not-so-gentle lean against her neck that made her gurgle.

 

The bigger Gem considered grabbing her, considered squeezing Pearl’s thin frame until she burst. It was instinct. It was right for battle. Even if this were a training exercise and nothing more, it was the quartz way.

 

She knew this wasn’t the time.

 

Defeat tasted bitter in her mouth, and she grunted, managing a nod. Pearl smiled, spear vanishing completely, and she sat back on Jasper’s sternum to catch her breath.

 

Golden eyes raked up her form, from her pelvis to the tears in her blouse, taking in the flush on her cheeks and the way her hair was mussed from the fight. Pearl didn’t quite look ready for another round, not yet, but she had done well—Jasper couldn’t help smiling crookedly up at her, reaching to settle her hands on the smaller Gem’s slim hips. “You did well,” she purred, “Up for another go?”

 

“Already?” Pearl asked, feeling color rise to her cheeks. “I _just_ pinned you. Take a minute first.”

 

“Think you can’t handle it?”

 

It was bait, and obvious at that, but Pearl took it. She leaned down, and Jasper wondered whether her form had always been so flexible. Pearls on Homeworld stood stiff and at attention most of the time—but her wife’s back arched wonderfully, and Jasper wanted to run her big hands up her sides. Pearl was nearly nose-to-Gem with her.

 

“I can handle anything you’ve got,” Pearl teased back.

 

Jasper tried to ignore the fluttering sensation that being on the receiving end of Pearl’s teasing left in her chest. She similarly tried to ignore the soft skin against her shoulders where Pearl’s thighs had settled, and the way heat pooled in her cheeks.

 

By some miracle, her voice was steady when she spoke.

 

“Now who’s cocky?”

 

Jasper took pride in that.

 

She took pleasure in the flush that crept into Pearl’s cheeks at her words, too.

 

“Still you,” Pearl said, regarding her with unconcealed amusement. The smile on her lips didn’t falter, not until Jasper’s hand abruptly cupped her chin, drawing her in closer. Pearl balked finally, realizing their position as the adrenalin from their match began to fade, replaced instead with an abrupt awareness that she was sitting very, very close to Jasper’s face, and that they were much closer than was proper. Her voice wavered. “J-Jasper?”

 

“I like how you say my name,” Jasper chuckled, running her thumb along the curve of Pearl’s cheek, along the bright blue flush there. “Especially like that. It’s cute.”

 

“ _Jasper_!”

 

“Less that tone,” the quartz laughed, releasing her face before she indulged too much. “Let me up. We’ve rested enough.”

 

The Crystal Gem rose unsteadily, and Jasper winced slightly as she stepped on her long hair. “Sorry,” Pearl said, clamoring off of her gracelessly, thoroughly embarrassed. She rose, dusting herself off, and extended a hand for Jasper to take. “I didn’t mean to step on your hair.”

 

“I don’t mind,” Jasper said easily, mostly levering herself up even if she did take Pearl’s hand. It was tempting to pull her back down, but that temptation came from urges she wanted to pretend didn’t exist. “Fair trade, since I tore your uniform.”

 

“Oh!” Pearl gasped, looking down at her exposed chest and stomach, and her flush was back with a vengeance. Stammering out apologies, she phased a new tunic in its place, and Jasper roared with laughter.

 

“It’s just your _chest_ ,” Jasper cackled, “You’re such a palace Gem. So what if a little more skin showed? Is that an Earth custom I should be aware of?”

 

Pearl flushed even more brightly, up to her hairline, and hid her face in her hands. It wasn’t that—and at the same time, she couldn’t explain her embarrassment. Tears happened with some frequency; despite her best efforts, she couldn’t phase armor the way Garnet did, and she had flashed the others several times as a result. Much like her hair, she had little control of the density of the light that made up her clothing.

 

But it was different with Jasper. And that difference didn’t have much to do with her raucous laughter, though the teasing didn’t help.

 

“S-sort of,” she stammered out haltingly, looking away. “I… there are certain… details. I’ve adopted some human characteristics over the years. At Rose’s… suggestion. That Gems don’t have.”

 

“And?” Jasper asked, leaning in close, ignoring the brief spark of jealousy in her gut at the mention of Rose Quartz. She wondered what other changes Pearl had made for her. “You mean those little blue spots on your chest? I’ve seen them in other species before. They’re no big deal.”

 

As if to prove this, Jasper reached out, laying her big hand on Pearl’s torso. “If it bothers you, I won’t look next time,” she said, angling her head to one side as she regarded her wife. “It’s a neat detail.”

 

“Stars,” Pearl murmured, looking down in her embarrassment. “I… I suppose. That’s one way to look at it.”

 

“Pearl,” Jasper’s voice was serious, and Pearl peeked up at her despite her humiliation. “I’m covered in stripes. Your spots don’t bother me.”


	15. If...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl explains a few more things about herself. Jasper comes to a decision.

Jasper’s words were well intentioned, and the sentiment had Pearl’s heart leap into her throat, catching her voice before she could speak. She nodded instead. Small hands reached up to settle on Jasper’s wrist, and she looked down again, trying to find her thoughts. Stars, but Jasper had missed the point, even if it was incredibly endearing. She could recall the first time Amethyst had noticed them, the teasing she had endured—but Amethyst knew more about humans than Jasper did, knew more about Earth, knew _exactly_ why Pearl would alter her physical appearance…

 

“It’s… a little different,” Pearl started uncomfortably, voice tight, and Jasper leaned closer to listen. She could feel Pearl’s pulse, pounding away under her hand. She wondered when and why Pearl had adopted this, too. She had her own internal organs, too—most Gems with exposure to other life forms adopted them—but one so telling of Pearl’s feelings, even only at close quarters, was a surprise. “I appreciate it. Just, they’re not—that is… They’re not just for looks. It’s, ah… a secondary sexual characteristic in humans.”

 

Gold eyes widened, and Jasper’s mouth fell open into a perfect ‘o’ shape.

 

That certainly cleared up any questions she might’ve had about the nature of Pearl’s relationship with Rose Quartz.

 

“They’re for pleasure, then, aren’t they?” Jasper was blunt as ever, even when she tried to curb her tongue for the sake of Pearl’s embarrassment. Her wife covered her face in her hands with an embarrassed groan, and Jasper considered, for a moment, trying to find where the little blue spots were with her fingertips, but somehow, that felt like stepping well over the line. She could save it for another time, with Pearl’s permission. It was with great reluctance that she withdrew her hand, letting it fall to her side. “Most species with breasts use them for feeding their young. But Gems don’t.”

 

Pearl bobbed her head in an embarrassed nod, drawing in a shaky breath. “You’re right; we don’t,” Pearl whispered, “Which is why I… that is, it was easier, incorporating the… crucial part. The rest seemed silly.”

 

Jasper regarded her for a long moment, waited until Pearl risked a glance up at her again, and flashed a crooked smile. “I still like the spots,” she said, mussing Pearl’s hair with shocking gentleness. And then, with a conspirator’s glance at the empty arena, she leaned in to whisper; “I shifted breasts a long time ago, but no spots. Just seemed fitting. They’re nice, fill out the Second Age uniforms even nicer. The humans are uselessly weak, but their bodies aren’t terrible or hard to replicate. Some other organics are built similarly. Did you copy the bottom part, too?”

 

“Stars, Jasper!” Pearl scolded, blue up to her scalp. She couldn’t believe this conversation was happening.

 

“What? I’m just curious,” Jasper purred, voice a low rumble too close to Pearl’s ear. “Quartzes are very inquisitive Gems, you know.”

 

“I’m well aware!” Pearl’s voice was shriller than she meant it to be, cracked awkwardly, but when Jasper laughed it helped soothe her frazzled nerves. It wasn't mean-spirited. It was warm and reassuring and eased Pearl down from the edge of panic. “You quartzes are just so… forthright. It’s unnerving. I’ve never discussed something like that with anyone!”

 

“Except Rose Quartz,” Jasper corrected her, and Pearl blanched a little. Humor fell away from the conversation faster than a stone thrown, but Jasper shrugged it off, feigning nonchalance. “It’s not my business.”

 

“It’s not,” Pearl said quickly, swallowing hard. She considered leaving it there, refusing to comment further, but she knew better. The topic would just come up again later. “But you’re not wrong. It’s just… a little too recent. I don’t like thinking about it.”

 

“That’s fair,” Jasper said after a long moment. After being with someone for eons, she couldn’t imagine going only a few years without. Then again, she had never known anyone that way. Most of her batch had eventually been reassigned, spread across the cosmos as the Diamond Authority colonized more systems, and she had never been very involved with them. Especially not in the way she wanted to be involved with Pearl.

 

It was hard to form bonds with Gems that might die any day. Jaspers were a fiercely loyal strain of quartz, and the Gems from her Kindergarten were no exception. But for all that they were incredibly loyal and socially inclined, there was an expectation that every interaction might be their last. Some quartzes took this to mean that they should be affectionate, but Jasper had never been comfortable with that kind of thing. She kept to herself in her training days, and even now, among younger Gems.

 

Pearl was an anomaly in that respect, too.

 

Jasper watched as Pearl’s gaze shifted downward, but it was plain as day that her mind was several systems away. Her hands toyed nervously with her sash, a tic that Jasper was beginning to wonder if Pearl was aware of.

 

“Here, we’ll sit,” Jasper said without room for argument, clapping a hand on Pearl’s shoulder and pushing her toward the auditorium stairs. “You’re looking green again.”

 

Pearl nodded absently, easily falling into place beside Jasper as she walked, and they sat together without another word. Jasper was surprised; sufficiently shaken, she almost moved like a proper pearl would back on Homeworld. Her back was too straight, and she walked with too much purpose in her stride, but Jasper could see the shadow of who and what she must’ve been eons ago.

 

She wondered if her wife would have been nearly as distracting, thousands of years ago, back home, where at least one of them belonged. A member of the Lost Court, probably clad in pink from head to toe, perhaps with longer hair than she wore now. Her clothing would have been frivolous, no doubt, and perhaps she’d have sported gauzy sleeves, or a sheer skirt like Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond’s pearls did.

 

Jasper sat down hard on the steps, and watched Pearl sink down next to her without making eye contact, and she decided that this defective little Gem was scores better than even the Diamonds could have paid for. With her light frame and agile, lithe body, Pearl was exactly right the way she was.

 

Except…

 

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Jasper murmured gruffly, pushing back her unruly hair, to no effect. It fell back into place. “It was just an observation.”

 

“I know,” Pearl said, heaving a sigh. “I’m too sensitive about her. I was the one who brought the whole thing up. It’s my own doing.”

 

They fell into an uncomfortable silence then, wherein Pearl had nothing to say and Jasper had no way to articulate what she _wanted_ to express. The quartz considered starting several times, but halted at the last instant, jaw set and teeth grit together.

 

Finally, Jasper let out a frustrated huff. “It’s stupid,” she growled, “I shouldn’t be… jealous of a Gem who’s gone. I shouldn’t be jealous at all. But here we are.” Jasper cleared her throat. “And I suppose, here I am, eating my own words. I told you too soon I didn’t want an Earth marriage.”

 

Wide blue eyes turned toward her, startled, and Jasper glanced back at her, feeling her cheeks warm with color that she knew Pearl couldn’t miss up close. And despite their height difference, despite Jasper being more than a head taller than the alabaster Gem, they _were_ very close. Jasper reached down between them to cover Pearl’s hand with hers.

 

“I take it back,” Jasper said, “What I said last night. If this… if we turn out having an Earth marriage. Whatever else that entails.”

 

“Jasper…” Pearl barely dared to breathe, but she could see the faint tingle that passed up Jasper’s frame when she said her name. Her own flush increased at least threefold. “I… I don’t know what to say to that.”

 

 _‘No’_ didn’t cross her mind, not immediately, and when it did, it didn’t feel right. She licked her lips, suddenly dry.

 

“It’s only been a day.”

 

“And?” Jasper asked, quirking a brow. “We’re married either way. It doesn’t have to be immediate, either. Your customs here are strange, but if…” she paused to swallow, shoving her hair back out of her face as the breeze tried to obscure her view of her bride. Perhaps she should have kept it in the braid after all. “Just, if… That’s all.”

 

“ _If_ ,” Pearl repeated. “Jasper… If you knew me as well as the others, I don’t think—“

 

“I like you,” Jasper cut her off, giving her hand a squeeze. “I like how you fight, and how you talk, and I like the way you look. You’re different. You’re a survivor. You’re a pearl who fights like a citrine! We saw two sides of the same war. We’re from the same era. You’re…” she paused mid-ramble, caught sight of the glassy look in Pearl’s eyes, in the wetness that clung to her eyelashes, and Jasper immediately reached up to brush her tears away. “You’re crying.”

 

“Sorry,” Pearl choked out, blinking rapidly against her tears. Jasper cradled her face in her hands with gentleness that came from confusion and uncertainty, and Pearl sniffled piteously. “I—I don’t take compliments well.”

 

“You give yourself too little credit, you mean?” Jasper paused, then leaned in, pressing her Gem lightly against Pearl’s nose. Pearl’s breath hitched, and Jasper stared into her wide eyes. “It’s all true. I like what I’ve seen this cycle. I don’t know why it matters how long we’ve known each other—soldiers aren’t bothered by that. A spark’s a spark.”

 

“It’s not still banned on Homeworld?” Pearl asked, trying to ignore the pounding in her chest and the surge of energy in her Gem. She gulped air shakily, tears mercifully short-lived. “When I was there—“

 

“Everything is restricted on Homeworld. That isn’t the point,” Jasper insisted, tipping her face forward to rest her forehead against Pearl’s Gem, finally breaking her gaze to close her eyes. It was a little easier to speak without eye contact, even though it felt like a weakling’s solution. “This is Earth. I’m just letting you know that I’m open to it after all. You don’t have to agree or decide anything just because I said so.”

 

Pearl was silent and still, scarcely daring to breathe with Jasper’s face so close to hers. It was quite the shift. She didn’t know what to say, or do, or even _think_ at such close quarters.

 

The first properly coherent thought to cross her mind was that she could close the short distance between them, say yes regardless of consequences, and perhaps finally move on—

 

That thought brought Rose’s face to mind, and she had to turn away, eyes downcast and dull. It was all she could do not to start crying all over again.

 

“I’ll… I’ll think about it,” Pearl managed, reaching up to grasp Jasper’s hand as she drew away. Big fingers curled around hers easily, and Pearl’s lips quirked upward in a faint smile. “I’ll definitely think about it. I don’t know if I’m ready for that kind of step, but… I’ll think on it, Jasper.”

 

It wasn’t a no, and that was good enough for Jasper. She smiled crookedly, a wide, toothy grin. “Think all you want,” Jasper said smoothly, masking her nervousness as she stood, tugging Pearl up with her. The smaller Gem rose with the grace Jasper fully expected of a palace pearl. The orange Gem tugged her along, back down a few steps toward the arena. “In the meantime, let’s get some more sparring in before that—Garnet, before she comes looking for us.”

 

“You really want to get another round in?” Pearl squeaked, startled and confused, but quickly distracted from her thoughts. Which was exactly what Jasper wanted.

 

The quartz smiled widely, turning on her heel in a sharp stop. “Of course. I’m not through with you yet.”


	16. Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasper and Pearl talk after they get sparring out of their systems.

 

Their next match was something of a farce, and Jasper wasn’t surprised. Pearl’s head wasn’t in the game, and it cost her quickly enough; it was over in moments, with Jasper pinning her to a pillar with her own spear as leverage. Jasper scolded her with a Cheshire’s grin, goaded her out of her brooding without letting her go, and Pearl finally conceded the match, demanding a tiebreaker.

 

Jasper couldn’t be happier.

 

They fought tirelessly for several hours, but even as she wound down, Pearl put up an excellent fight. Jasper had been right that her stamina was greater, even if Pearl surprised her several times with her spear nearly touching her Gem.

 

Finally spent, Pearl slumped down against a pillar, breathing hard. “Stars! What a workout,” she panted, pushing her hair away from her eyes. Pearls didn’t perspire much, but the cloudy arena was humid, and the fog she used to her advantage in their fights left her hair and clothing damp. Strands of hair clung to her flushed face, and Jasper plopped down next to her, far less spent, but thoroughly impressed.

 

“You fought well,” Jasper said in a low rumble, “What was that… that light blast? I didn’t expect you to blind me.”

 

“A good trick, when you’ve got to stun someone twice your size,” Pearl panted, and Jasper grinned.

 

“I’m quite certain I’m bigger than _that_.”

 

“Oh, hush,” Pearl elbowed her lightly, settling to lean against her wife’s arm and closing her eyes briefly. “That isn’t the point.”

 

Jasper peeked down at her, bemused. “Did you use that trick in the war?” she asked, all too glad that she didn’t taste bitterness on her tongue when she spoke. Discussing tactics with a former enemy rebel should have churned her stomach, but after such an invigorating fight, she couldn’t help her curiosity.

 

“I couldn’t summon my spear for most of it,” Pearl admitted, shrugging lightly. “I didn’t learn until right near the end… I used swords, mostly.”

 

“They _make_ swords that small?”

 

Another good-natured rib, and Pearl cocked a grin up at the bigger Gem. “Bismuth did, yes,” Pearl said, “She made them for me specifically. I still have them—I have a lot of swords now, actually.”

 

“Don’t tell me you collect weapons,” Jasper said, raising an eyebrow in question. “Do you hide them in your Gem?”

 

“Where else would I put them? There’s only so much space in my room at the Temple,” Pearl replied, blinking pretty blue eyes owlishly. She turned away to project an image from her Gem, one of floating basins overflowing with water, and Jasper couldn’t help curling her lip in distaste. Pearl didn’t see this, and went on, gesturing to the blue image of the pools. “I have them organized; different types of weapons in each basin. Mostly swords. I never really took to axes or flails.”

 

Jasper stared at the hologram for a long moment, then looked at her wife instead. “You’re serious,” she said, and it wasn’t a question. “You really do it all…”

 

Blue dusted Pearl’s cheeks as her projection faded, and she coughed delicately. “Of course—I had to. I couldn’t just stand around and look pretty during a war! I had to at least be as strong as my peers.”

 

“But you’re not _meant_ to,” Jasper protested, brows furrowed. “You’re a pearl. You’re meant to _be_ pretty. You can’t expect me to believe it was that simple. You just left Homeworld, picked up a weapon, and changed your purpose? Any Gem could do that?”

 

“Yes…?” Pearl said slowly, drawing the word out. “Jasper, how would I survive a thousand year war if I _hadn’t_ adapted and learned to fight well?”

 

“I don’t know!” Jasper threw up her hands. “It just doesn’t make sense!”

 

Pearl stared for several seconds, then folded her hands in her lap. “Why?” she asked softly, “What about it doesn’t make sense, now that you’ve seen me fight?”

 

The orange Gem huffed, trying to find her words as if they would fall into her hands. She crossed her arms. “It’s not you,” she decided. “That's not the problem. I mean, it _is_ , but… You’re proof that _She’s_ wrong.”

 

The way Jasper said _She_ spoke volumes.

 

 _She_ meant Yellow Diamond.

 

“Go on,” Pearl prompted, voice soft.

 

Jasper grit her teeth, briefly clenching her jaw, then exhaled shakily. “ _She_ creates order. You know how important that is. Every Gem has her purpose, has her place. It’s balanced. We all fit together in Her design. The Diamond Authority knows what They’re doing, Their word is law.

 

“And you… You Crystal Gems, you defy that. Especially you. I don’t care about the illegal Fusion, or the runt amethyst, or whatever your Steven is—you’re _from_ Homeworld. And here you are.”

 

“Here I am.” Pearl’s voice was solemn, and she laid a hand on Jasper’s arm. “Does it upset you that I’m not…?”

 

“No. It’s just… confusing,” Jasper muttered, “If you weren’t from Home I’d understand. Maybe it would be easier to swallow. But you are. And you found a new place, and you’re… you’re good at what you do. You’re really good. You changed your purpose.”

 

“I wouldn’t go so far as that,” Pearl interjected, voice still soft, and she sighed. “My purpose was to follow Rose Quartz, and I did. That just happened to include… more than an average pearl’s duties. I just expanded on my purpose.”

 

Jasper stared at her for several seconds. She wondered how, then, Pearl still stood—deprived of her purpose, of the Gem she was made for. How she still fought well, how she survived day to day.

 

She’d lost her Diamond, and while the connection wasn’t the same…

 

“I don’t know what to do with myself here, Pearl,” Jasper’s voice was low, a conspirator’s whisper. “On your Earth. I was made to serve My Diamond, for wars I outlived, and now…”

 

“…And now you’re here. With me,” Pearl murmured, echoing something Steven had said months ago. The irony wasn’t lost on her; Jasper, millions of miles away from Homeworld, on a planet she’d fought to destroy, without her Diamond’s favor. She couldn’t quite imagine it, but she could sympathize.

 

She’d outlived her initial purpose, too.

 

On impulse, she slipped her arms around Jasper’s bicep, hugging her gingerly, and with enough room for the bigger Gem to pull away if she wanted to. When she didn’t, Pearl sighed, resting her cheek against her arm. “I’m sorry, Jasper. I’m sure it will just sound like silly, nonsensical ramblings if I told you to try to make the best of it. You lost everything to wind up here. But I… I think you can find a new purpose. Steven says that’s the best thing about Earth. Things are always changing here. Nothing is ever the same. There are always new opportunities waiting to find you.”

 

Jasper said nothing for so long that Pearl was certain she had misspoken. Perhaps it had been clear that she didn’t wholly believe her own words. Finally, a big hand came up to stroke her hair, and Pearl closed her eyes.

 

“I can’t promise anything,” Jasper muttered, voice sullen, eyes averted. It felt wonderful to have Pearl curled against her arm, but it didn’t quite mend the hollowness in her chest. “For a moment, I thought…” she started, then sighed, shaking her head. “It’s nothing.”

 

Wide blue eyes peered up at her, waiting for an answer, and Jasper frowned. She didn’t know what to say, and neither did she like the feeling Pearl’s beseeching gaze inspired in her. She heaved a sigh.

 

“I thought… well, you know. Reinventing yourself isn’t easy. I already did it once on this miserable planet... And then I thought—I didn’t have a choice. _She_ changed me.”

 

 _She_ again.

 

This time, however, Lapis was the ‘she’ in question, and Pearl could hear the chill in Jasper’s voice at her mention.

 

Pearl’s grip on Jasper’s arm tightened minimally, and she scooted closer; a wordless invitation to continue. The quartz let her hand fall away from Pearl’s hair, settling it instead on her knee. She sighed as if the stale air leaving her might rid her of the sick feeling thinking about Lapis left inside her, cold and empty and almost as terrible as losing her Diamond’s favor forever.

 

“I… we were so strong, Pearl,” Jasper started, staring down at her hands, too orange and foreign in the warm mid-afternoon sun. After months undersea, she still expected green, still expected to blink four eyes, still felt the shackles that held her down. “The entire ocean was ours to command. She had all the power, and it was mine, too, but I… I want that. And I don’t. I hated Lapis—it was like being in a black hole. Pushing and pulling on all sides. It never stopped. It was awful. It _hurt_. But I think, if I were to stay away from Home forever, I’d like…”

 

“You’d like to be Malachite again,” Pearl finished for her. “Because she’s bigger, and stronger, more capable, and now that you’re not, you feel… incomplete. Even if the Fusion was awful.”

 

Gold eyes turned on her, and Jasper stared for a long while. “You too?”

 

Pearl’s gaze flitted to the side, and she gnawed her bottom lip until it hurt. She swallowed. “I tricked Garnet into Fusing with me,” she said finally. “A few times. I didn’t want to _trick_ her, but I didn’t know how else to… to be Sardonyx again.”

 

She fell silent, and Jasper watched her for several seconds. “What’s Sardonyx like?” she asked finally, shelving her jealousy in favor of curiosity that burned like fire in her stomach.

 

The alabaster Gem chuckled, but it was a dull sound, not like the laughter Jasper so enjoyed. Her wife closed her eyes briefly. “She’s big. Smaller than Alexandrite, but still… she’s elegant, and graceful, and precise—she’s confident and _funny_ … self-assured and ready for anything.”

 

“Sounds like you.”

 

Pearl snorted when she laughed, and Jasper smiled despite the serious turn their conversation had taken. “No,” she said in a sigh, “She’s more than me. She’s more than Garnet. She’s just… us combined. The space between us, our personalities, our magical and physical properties—she’s wonderful. She’s more than I’ll ever be.”

 

Jasper didn’t think anything that required Garnet as a component could be wonderful. For that matter, she didn’t think _Fusion_ could be a wonderful experience, either. The power it gave was without parallel, and she craved _that_ , but…

 

“Were you trying to lose yourself?” Jasper asked critically, and Pearl didn’t have to respond beyond a wry smile to confirm her suspicions. The quartz frowned. “I never wanted that. I don’t see how you could. Look at you, Pearl.”

 

“I have.”

 

“Look again, then,” Jasper said firmly, “Because if you’re seeing a Gem that would be better off lost like that—you’re not looking in the right mirror.”

 

Silence followed, and Pearl sighed, pressing her face into Jasper’s arm briefly. “You’re sweet,” she murmured, not entirely in agreement, but willing enough to drop the argument. She was tired, and her body made no secret of this as she sank into Jasper’s side. “I appreciate it.”

 

“I’m not just saying it to be sweet,” Jasper retorted, awkwardly detangling her arm from Pearl’s grip. The noise of protest her wife made was delightful, soft and avian, and Jasper instead swept her closer, securing her arm around Pearl’s tiny waist. “I’m dead serious.”

 

Despite herself, despite the gravity of the topic at hand, Pearl had to stifle a yawn. “I believe you,” she mumbled, “I’m sorry, I’m just… exhausted after all that… I may need to sleep.”

 

Jasper knew, vaguely, what that entailed. She didn’t take Pearl for the type of Gem to indulge in such a frivolous thing. Instead of questioning it, she pulled her wife in and leaned back against the pillar, folding her free hand behind her head and casting her gaze upward.

 

“I’ll be here.”

 


	17. Breather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet and Jasper talk while Pearl sleeps off her exhaustion. Jasper is not good at sharing.

Jasper was nothing if not adherent to her word, but it was difficult for a quartz to simply sit and rest after a fight. Pearl curled up against her side helped, with her perfectly contented face pressed into Jasper’s impressive chest. Sometimes her Gem would flicker, casting portions of a hologram against her skin, but Jasper wasn’t interested in the ghosts of Pearl’s past. She knew that pearls projected things involuntarily, and it made sense that sleep exacerbated that.

 

Still, it was… nice. The knowledge that, for some reason, her formidable little wife trusted her enough to let her guard down like this.

 

Jasper tried to meditate, successfully passing much of the remaining afternoon without incident. Pearl slept soundly, and Jasper wondered whether this were a normal reaction to fighting so hard. Given that pearls weren’t meant to fight, it made sense that her stamina wouldn’t last, would give way to exhaustion the way other species sometimes did.

 

The quartz tightened her hold around Pearl’s narrow waist and was rewarded with a blissfully contented sigh that could have broken her heart.

 

Diamonds above, she had it bad.

 

There was no use denying it now, Jasper thought, though it still sat strangely in her stomach. It wasn’t enough that she was _open_ to the idea of an Earth marriage; she wanted more than that, more than she really knew anything about. Homeworld didn’t encourage this kind of thing. Marriage was entirely political there, although she supposed some of the upper crust might have combined business and pleasure. Sex wasn’t explicitly forbidden among soldiers as long as it was done off world, out of sight, and—more importantly—never spoken of. She imagined higher ranked Gems got away with more. It wasn’t as if they had anything _better_ to do.

 

Especially with pearls, she knew, and Jasper wondered how many of those Gems appreciated their pets beyond beauty or decoration. The seasoned warrior wondered how anyone couldn’t see versatility and strength if they bothered to look, and wondered even more how her opinion on an entire caste of Gems could change in only a day.

 

Pearl really was something else.

 

The telltale sound of the nearby warp activating drew Jasper’s attention, and she reflexively covered Pearl’s shoulders and head with a hand, unsure of what to expect, but not unwilling to fight. It was what she’d always done. It was what _all_ quartzes did.

 

It was strange to have someone else she wanted to protect.

 

When Garnet appeared on the nearby stairs, Jasper didn’t relax, but she lowered her hand somewhat. The Fusion looked impassive as ever, and that made Jasper’s skin prickle uncomfortably. She couldn’t read her, and the fog didn’t help.

 

“She’s sleeping,” Jasper was quick to say, voice low as Garnet approached. The hologram on her chest flickered and died, then burst back to life as Pearl shifted closer to her wife. Garnet stopped short.

 

“I see.”

 

She hadn’t been sure that her voice would be even when she spoke, but luck was on her side. The Fusion glanced around the arena, glad to see that it wasn’t much worse for wear than usual.

 

“Did she win?”

 

Jasper bristled at the question. Garnet’s smile, a faint upturn of the lips, didn’t help her discomfort any, even if the Crystal Gem may have meant to be friendly.

 

“Some rounds,” Jasper grit out, “We stopped counting.”

 

“Sounds about right.” Garnet turned her attention back to Jasper after several moments of watching Pearl’s sleeping face. Aside from bruises that were typical of rough training, she looked perfectly well. “I’ll spar with you next time,” she offered, earning a startled look. She shrugged lightly. “Seems fair to offer.”

 

“Tch,” Jasper grumbled, looking away. “I don’t want your offer. I’ve already fought you.”

 

“You might enjoy it more without the ship’s core to worry about,” Garnet said dryly. The hackles on the back of Jasper’s neck stood straight up, and if not for Pearl curled against her side, she would have been on her feet, ready to make sure Garnet got a good taste of her fists before she flung her off of the arena, truce be damned.

 

“I don’t like your angle,” Jasper growled, “If you’re trying to get me to break my word, it’s not going to work.”

 

Garnet chuckled softly. “The opposite, really,” she replied, settling her hands on her hips. “My only angle is concern for Pearl’s wellbeing… which puts us on the same page, doesn’t it?”

 

Jasper hadn’t expected that. Her golden gaze flickered down to Pearl, to the crest of her head and what she could see of her face, soft angles and long eyelashes that dusted pale cheeks. Despite their sparring, Pearl was only a little bruised and battered, and some of that had more to do with her propensity for rolling through rubble than actual collisions.

 

“I don’t want to agree with that,” Jasper muttered, “You sound like you’re leading me somewhere.”

 

“Maybe,” Garnet was cryptic as ever, and in the short time that she’d known her, Jasper didn’t think any Gem—or Gems combined—could be so aggravating.

 

“Maybe,” Jasper spat back, mimicking the lilt in Garnet’s voice. “Maybe if you didn’t hide behind that visor I’d consider anything you said. But you’re nothing but cheap tricks. I don’t want anything to do with a coward who won’t look me in the eye.”

 

Garnet said nothing, then, with an easy shrug, phased away her visor. “It isn’t for _you_ ,” she said, regarding Jasper coolly with half-lidded eyes. Jasper’s gaze searched her face almost frantically, and the Fusion chuckled. “It unnerves people—humans. Like it unnerves you. And it’s troublesome, closing one and not the others. After a while, covering them all came easier.”

 

“You’re still hiding half your face,” Jasper countered, “Anyone would be suspicious of that.”

 

The wry smile on Garnet’s plush lips spread and her three eyes crinkled at the corners. “Pearl doesn’t have trouble reading me,” she said, looking instead at her best friend, still asleep, but dangerously close to waking. “But she’s got more practice than you, Jasper.”

 

“I’d hope so,” the quartz soldier muttered, and the tenderness in Garnet’s unguarded face put her on edge. Jealousy bubbled up inside of her and threatened to overflow, but as if on queue, Pearl stirred, and the hand resting against the swell of Jasper’s breast curled involuntarily, long fingers just barely dipping into the V cut of her uniform. Heat rose to Jasper’s cheeks instead, and she was taken by a fit of coughing.

 

If there had been any hope of Pearl sleeping through the rest of their conversation, it was gone like a stone thrown.

 

“Uhn…?” Pearl slurred, straightening her back and blinking owlishly. Garnet replaced her visor before the smaller Gem could get her bearings, hiding her grin behind a hand. “Jasper? Are you alright?”

 

“Dust,” Jasper wheezed between coughs, “Just dust.”

 

“Good evening, Pearl,” Garnet said smoothly, drawing her attention. Jasper wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or resentful.

 

“Garnet? When did you—is it really _evening_?” Pearl squeaked, flushing a brilliant blue that traveled down her throat and disappeared beneath her tattered uniform. Jasper released her wife with some reluctance as the alabaster Gem rose on unsteady feet, and Garnet caught her arm to steady her.

 

“It’s close to dinnertime,” Garnet said, smoothing Pearl’s hair down affectionately and blithely ignoring the pointed look Jasper threw her way. “But Steven’s ordering pizza tonight. He figured you would be tired.” The Fusion grinned at the bewildered look on Pearl’s face, tucking a lock of pink hair behind her ear. “Heard you won some of your matches. Steven’ll be pleased.”

 

“Oh!” Pearl glanced down, pleased despite her embarrassment, and Jasper wondered how much of her wife’s reaction was subconscious. She flustered easily around the Fusion, and jealousy came to Jasper naturally. Pearl’s long fingers knotted and twisted in front of her. “I did, but Jasper did astoundingly well. She’s amazing, Garnet. I’m surprised I won any matches at all! You two would be fantastic to watch!”

 

Garnet had seen that coming a mile away, and she grinned. “Jasper already turned me down,” she said, folding her arms across her bust. “Of course, if you could _convince_ her…”

 

“If Pearl wants to see me beat you into the ground, I’d be happy to,” Jasper said, rising to her feet and cracking her neck for show. Pearl shuddered a little at the sound, but had already turned to look up at her wife hopefully.

 

“I just think she’d be a better match than me,” Pearl admitted, “I only saw a little of your fight on the ship—I was, er, interfaced with the control panel at the time, so I could only see what the monitor picked up before it went out too…”

 

Despite herself, despite the reminder of her defeat, Jasper barked out a laugh. “You took the controls? It’s not made for a pearl! No wonder the ship went crazy. Hope you didn’t hurt yourself.”

 

“But most Gems can interface with technology,” Pearl said, shrugging lightly and reaching for Garnet’s arm instinctively. Garnet let her, eyeing Jasper’s frown from behind the safety of her visor. Pearl went on; “Pearls are all made for it, to some degree. I know one of my sisters essentially does nothing but answer calls for—her owner.”

 

Jasper caught the way her voice hitched, and wanted to ask, but knew better, this time. She reached out, smoothed Pearl’s hair, brushed the pad of her thumb over a fading bruise on her temple, and mustered up a smile. “You’re something else,” she murmured fondly, earning a startled look that rapidly melted away to a relieved smile. “You’re definitely more than an average pearl. They can’t interface with ships anymore. Not a ship as complex as _that_.”

 

Color pooled in Pearl’s cheeks, and she swallowed somewhat nervously. “It wasn’t difficult,” she admitted, “I just put my hands through the control hologram and it all clicked.”

 

“Incredible. _You’re_ incredible, wife.”

 

To Pearl’s surprise, Jasper didn’t sound insincere.

 

That she was being open about such a thing in front of Garnet was… something. Progress, perhaps. Pearl wasn’t sure. She smiled shyly up at Jasper, clinging to Garnet’s arm like a lifeline.

 

“Thank you.”

 

Garnet could see several paths from here, and the window for her confession dwindled in almost every direction. In her mind’s eye she could see the side of a building covered in windows—and many of those windows had already gone dark. Some flickered with potential, and some were dim, ready to die off. These futures and more would come to pass one day, perhaps in other timelines, other worlds; Garnet wasn’t sure what route, if any, led to the future she longed for.

 

She squeezed Pearl’s hand gently, then detangled her loose grip from her bicep with practiced ease. The smaller Gem let her without argument. “We should get home,” she said softly, “Steven will want to hear all about your sparring. And I’m pretty sure Amethyst will demand a reenactment.”

 

“I think she’ll have to settle for holograms,” Pearl said wryly, phasing a clean, neat uniform on. “That nap was amazing, but I don’t think I’ve got another round in me.”

 

“More’s the pity,” Jasper chuckled, “I guess I can wait for tomorrow.”

 

“Stars! You’ll put me through the ringer,” Pearl said, but her relieved smile wasn’t insincere, either, and she reached for Jasper’s big hand. “I’ll see if Amethyst will loan me something to fight you with. Make it more interesting.”

 

Jasper’s grin was contagious, and she curled her fingers around Pearl’s smaller palm. Pearl smiled back. The triumphant look she shot Garnet went clear over Pearl’s head—and that was ultimately for the better. Garnet raised an eyebrow at her and, without a word, took Pearl’s other hand in hers. “I’ll come to tag in,” she declared, and Pearl looked briefly star-struck.

 

“Wonderful! This will be fun!”

 

Jasper wasn’t sure fun was the word.


End file.
